American Girl

Who knew it would take me four days to catch up from a five day trip......


I am somewhat caught up and am so excited about the post. This was by far one of the highlights of being a mother to me. I could not help but be brought to tears during this experience. I don't know what it was but it was truely a wonderful experience. I highly recommend all the mommies with daughters to go.

Josh was asked to step in and coach the highschool girls basketball team at the kids school. It was loads of fun for him and to top it off the girls were able to go to the state basketball tournament in Waxahachie. The whole family went to cheer him and his girls on. While we were there I got to take Elisabeth to the American Girl store. Oh my......

seriously....I cried. After being there only 10 minutes she exclaimed that it was the BEST day of her life.

Here she is approaching the store. As soon as she saw it she froze and looked all the way up to the top. (It is tall) I knew then that it was going to be F*U*N!

When we walked in the front door there was a clear glass cabinet with Kit neatly tucked inside. The ladies at the front of the store greeted us and made Elisabeth and her dolls feel very welcomed.

"Look here'e Kit!"
Elisabeth wanted Kit to have her ears pierced. Here she is before.

Ruthie had her hair fixed at the beauty salon.

They had little beauty chairs and capes for the dolls. Too cute!

..."Kits back and her ears are peirced!"

Elisabeth with all her goodies and her dolls. With only one daughter, you can only imagine just how rotten this girl will be.

When we were finished down stairs, we went up stairs to the bistro for lunch. It is all about the girls and their dolls. They give the dolls their own high chairs and their own menus. ADORABLE!!!

Check out Kit's new glasses! They match Elisabeth's exactly.

"Kit what would you like for lunch?"

Here's Ruthie with her hair all fixed eating her lunch.

Ruthie thought the food was delicious!

Check out how cute this miniature hamburger and hotdog are. But not as cute as the GIRLY! .....and fruit on a stick.....cut in the shapes of hearts and stars no less.
Everything was super cute!

Silly girl just loving life.

Here we are all in the bistro finishing up our lunch. I love mommy daughter time!!!

Don't get me wrong little boys are very special but there is nothing like time alone with your GIRL.

Before we could leave, Elisabeth had to put on the shirt we bought and Kit had to put on the shirt we bought for her. TADA!!!

These two are something else.

Questions and Answers

My children are always asking me questions.

Many of the questions I do not have the answer to.

Like: "Why are trees green?" or "Why is water wet?"

When I don't quite know the answer, I tell the kids: "because God made it that way."

So today we were getting ready to head out the door to school. Gates had put his backpack on his back and says: "Why is my backpack so light?" (I really do think he meant is my lunch in there; he loves his food or did I forget something)

However, Beck quickly knows the answer. He says: "Because God made it that way, Gatesy!"

Jalapeno Jelly

My sister and I have been wanting to make Jalapeno Jelly for a long time and we just haven't. So earlier this week when she suggested we do it, I was super excited. She has a jalapeno plant and wanted to use up some of her crop. I HAD a jalapeno plant but I killed it. They do like to be watered every once in a while. So Shannon and Holley came over Friday morning and we made it.

You start with 5 cups of sugar and a cup of apple cider vinegar. Bring these to a boil.

With another cup of apple cider vinegar you blend 3/4 lb of jalapenos.

Add to the sugar and boil for 10 minutes. Then you add liquid pectin and boil for one minute.

Looks a lot like barf to me. (We added a little bit of red bell pepper for color)

TADA!!! The finished product. It was nice and hot too.

While they were over a took a few pictures of Harley and Benjamin.

Isn't she so sweet?!??!

.....and check out this sweet face. He was such a ham. He wanted me to take his picture. His sister on the other hand was not going to let me.

My Stress Relief

I found this rug the other day on one of my bi-weekly trips to Target. I love green and I love brown so it completely won me over. When I got home I put it on my front porch but something was missing. The next day I went out and tried to find a couple of things to tie it together with my black front door and the plant stand that was already on my porch. I already had these things.....

....so I bought these things....

(the cross hanging, the white plant stand, the bird, and a couple of plants)

....and it ended up looking like this.



I know less is more but I always forget that. So it is a little busy for my tiny little porch but it did make me feel much better. I got to cReAte and shop. Such a stress relief.

Another Funny

Yesterday, Hogan got his clip moved. You ask me what for.....

.....well they were supposed to be painting sea shells for a project.

He decided that when he was finished painting his shells he would go ahead and use the paint to paint his fingernails as well.

His teacher thought it was really funny but had to move his clip because the other kids all thought it was funny and she had to stop the disruption.

I guess cross dressing at a conservative christian school doesn't fly.

Oh...and he did get in big trouble when he got home.

Just a Funny Story

I asked Beck to pick the toys up off the bathroom floor. Later, I went into the bathroom and I found THIS. He did pick the toys up off the floor. He even put one of the cups back there on the toilet seat. However, I meant for him to put the toys in the toy basket under the counter. Next time I'll have to be more specific.

The Spiral

I often feel like life is just spiraling out of control. We are always super busy. I feel like I am just doing enough to keep it all going because if I don't it's all going to come crashing down. I have always wanted my kids to experience EVERYTHING. I want them to well rounded and to have a FULL life. Not miss a thing. However, in doing all these things, I feel like we miss out on some of the really important things. But what do you give up? I love church I love being involved, we love the school we have to be involved, I love listening to Elisabeth play the piano and the guitar, I love watching all of them play soccer. Lets not forget the homework. Oh my! Spending fun family time doing fun things ranks top on our list so on the weekends we put the work aside and make sure to do something fun. In the evenings by the time the kids do their homework, eat dinner, have what ever practice, take a bath. We have to rush to read a book say a quick prayer and get in bed or we wont be able to get up and do it all over again tomorrow. Three of my four children see specialist and Elisabeth sees two specialists. Those appointments we can not forget. My laundry is always behind. Oh my goodness I should take a picture right now so you could see the huge pile I need to wash. But I can't today because I have a meeting at the school, and two friends birthdays this week so we are meeting for lunch. Then I'm off to sell HEB cards at the school and pick up at 12:30. Maybe while the kids are napping, I can get some of it done. But not for long cause I'm back at the school to get Elisabeth. All this to say....I am not complaining at all. I really love our life. But I feel like we stay so busy that we are forgetting something. I'm not even sure what it is. Do all of you feel as busy and overloaded as I do? Are we missing out on something?