The T-Rex and the Ant

Another funny thought my girls had.... Bret was reading to the girls from the Bible the other night before bed.  They were reading and discussing the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  Macey loves that story, and she got so overcome by the idea of everything being perfect.  Very seriously, she blurts out "Isn't it amazing!  A T-Rex could have stood right by an ant and not even eaten it." 

Sitting in God's Hands

Just something funny I want to remember... Shelby was talking to Macey in the car and she says, "Macey did you know there was actually a time when we weren't even born yet?!?  We weren't even in Mommy's tummy yet!"  Macey says "Then where were we?"  Shelby not expecting that question responds "Hmmmm. I think we were sitting in God's hands waiting. Man I wish I could remember those days!"  I just love my little girl's minds!

What Mama?

I wasn't doing anything in your bathroom.

A Long Day

Sometimes the only thing that can make a long, hard day of kindergarten better is a fruit punch from Mesa Street Grill!

God's Gifts

Lately, our family has been so busy!  The summer flew by in a whirlwind of trips, weddings, playdates and too many other things to mention.  The school year seems to be bringing it's own form of business as I try to balance my volunteer time between two different schools, and still keep a clean house and well rested, healthy kids.  I have completely given up on keeping up with the laundry which won't come as a surprise to those of you who know me well.  In the middle of all this, I have seen two things happen in my life.   One, I have found myself missing friends that we have had to leave behind.  The friends that I can be 100% myself around because they already know all my faults and love me anyway.  It takes time to build friendships like that, and I am so blessed to have more than one friend like that.  However, it isn't the same when you aren't in the same city, and that is what I have been missing. It's very selfish, I know, to sit around being sad because you don't have a girlfriend to hang out with when so many other people are dealing with real problems, but I was doing it. I have gone so far as to sit around feeling sorry for myself. Shocking I know!  After a while though, I made up my mind to let God fill the loneliness and focus on his plan for my life.  It's amazing how much better things are when you start your day focused on God!  That's when the second thing happened.  Bret and I started growing closer in a way that only two people who have spent years and years being together can. I can honestly say that I love him so much more today than I did when I married him.  God used several things to show me that He has already given me the "best friend" I have been missing in my husband.  There is no one else in the world that knows more about me than he does, and here he is loving me, caring for me, and making me laugh just like he always has.  God gave me such an amazing gift when He gave me my husband!

Lazy Sunday Afternoons

There is nothing like hanging out at the pool on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Macey also got brave enough to jump off the diving board for the first time!

Spirit Day

The last day of homecoming week was spirit day so all the kids wore the school colors (royal blue and white).  The entire school walks in the homecoming parade and then there is a big pep rally and cookout.  It was a fun but busy day.  I'm really glad homecoming week is over!  Abby and Macey were part of the mini cheer squad who performed in the pep rally.  They looked cute, and it was hilarious to watch them do the cheers and jumps.  Any girl who wants to go to mini cheer camp (a one day thing) gets to be in the pep rally.  Abby and Macey begged to go, and even though I really didn't think it was something they would enjoy I decided to let them choose.  When I picked them up, they both looked at me like they had been tortured.  Macey said "The life of a cheerleader is SO boring mom!"  Abby said "The cheerleaders kept asking if we knew the cheer and I would yell out absolutely as loud as I could so no one else would say no."  It's nice to be right sometimes!  :)  They did however, love performing at the pep rally.  I think both of them secretly like to be up on stage. I forgot my camera so all I got were cell phone pictures.

Costa Rican and Brazilian Beauties

For today's dress theme, each class was given a country, and they had to dress in something that reflected that country's culture.  I'm sure it was a great learning opportunity for the kids, but it was not fun to figure out costumes!  In Macey's class, I took charge of dressing the girls, and another mom took charge of dressing the boys.  The boys wore white t-shirts that had the Costa Rican flag on it, and I was able to dress all the girls in matching/coordinating outfits from my girls closets.  It's one of the advantages of having three girls so close in, and my love of dressing them alike!  I made red flower clips for all the girls and they wore matching red flip flops.  It may not have been perfect, but I thought they looked so cute!  Abby lucked out and got to wear a real Brazilian dress.  The grandmother of a little boy in Macey's class has a daughter that lives in Brazil, and she was so happy to help dress Abby when she found out her class country. According to her, most women in Brazil are naked or close to it (which I found to be true when googling Brazil clothing)!  Since Abby couldn't go in a string bikini, this beautiful sarong dress was perfect!  It was made to look like the Brazilian flag.  I made flower clips for Abby's hair too, and she felt like a princess. 

Disney Day

Today the theme at school was dress like your favorite movie character day.  The kids were all so cute!  I took the girls to the Disney store and let them pick out their own outfits.  Abby wanted to be Mickey Mouse, Macey wanted to be Pocahontus, and Shelby (couldn't leave her out!) picked out a Tinkerbell costume. 

My Super Girls!

One of the benefits of going to a school that goes all the way through high school is that you get to do a lot of fun things around homecoming.  This week is homecoming week at Jesus Chapel so Abby and Macey get to dress up each day to a different theme.  Today was super hero day.  Being a house full of girls, we don't have a lot of super hero costumes laying around so shopping for and finding the right costume was a lot of fun.  In the end, they decided to be twin Super Girls.

More Trip Pictures

I can't say enough how much fun this trip was!  We had so much fun just being together no matter what we were doing, Sea World, San Diego Zoo, shopping at the mall or watching Despicable Me.  Here are a few of my favorite pics from the trip.

SEA WORLD FUN

They definitly loved the sea lion show the most!

Sticking close to daddy around those sharks!

SAN DIEGO ZOO- We all loved this place!!!

Bret and Bret Jr.

These are the only three animals we chose to take pictures of.  I can't really tell you why it was these three, but for whatever reason, they were the favorites. 

  The petting area, we discovered, consisted of about 15 goats.  Abby and Macey walked around petting each one quickly, but Shelby marched in took one look around and singled in on this little black goat.  She went right up to and, much to her daddy's horror, kissed it right on the mouth.  Apparantly that's what you do when you are claiming a goat!  Shelby informed me that this was now her goat.  She even insisted that the goat told her he wanted to be with her.  If was even funnier when the goat stood up and started following Shelby around.  She refused to let any of the other kids get too close to her goat and was so sad when she had to say goodbye.

The hello kiss!

Shelby telling me that the goat wanted her too.

This was Shelby talking to another little girl who walked up. "You can't pet this goat.  He's mine.  Look over there (points to the other side of the area), there are plenty of other goats to pet."  I guess instead of taking a picture, I should have said something, but it was too funny!  I'm glad daddy decided to sit this one out.  :)

Saying goodbye.

She is so stinkin cute!

Abby the animal lover, blowing kisses.

This is what three, dirty girls (one with a freshly skinned knee) look like after a long, fun-filled day at the zoo, and...

this is what their feet look like!