Out with the old...

...and in with the new!  I am so exicted to finally have some green around our house.  The old yard wasn't bad, but it was all desert plants.  Bret and I miss all the green we had in Houston.

Before

                              

After- The trees and shrubs will take some time to grow in, but I love how much softer everything feels.                 

Wedding shower

I realized the other day that I have been a total slacker on this blog.  I have not shared some of the most important things that have happened over the last few months.  Number one being that my sister FINALLY (I mean FINALLY) got married.  She and her husband dated for 10 years!  I am so glad that she is happily married now.  It gives us just one more thing to share.  Now, if she would just get started on those babies.  :)

Here are some pictures of the wedding shower I threw her a few months ago.

We are so lucky

My girls have the best dad, I'm certain of it!  I could go on and on about what a great dad he is, but he would kill me for it.  Bret prefers to keep that part of himself just for me and the girls.  He is probably going to kill me for sharing this, but I never want to forget it.  Since he has been traveling a lot lately, he has really been missing the girls.  Tonight he wasn't able to talk to them on the phone so he sent them this message, and I read it to them just before bed.  The girls faces lit up when I told them I had a special message from their Dad.  All three of them giggled as I read it, and Abby even rolled her eyes and shook her head when she heard the last part.  This is because Bret has been saying it to her ever since she started school!

The message:

My precious babies, I love you and miss you soooooo much.  I can't wait for this week to be over and be home with you.  I will pray for your rest and health.  I hope you dream of chocolate rivers and gummy bear trees.  Sleep good, mind your mom, and stay away from all boys.  Love, your daddy.

The mind of a child

I have another Abby story for you.  My girls say the funniest things sometimes, and I just never want to forget them.  You may not find this funny at all, but I'm a mom and can't help but think my babies are so great.  Sometimes I am amazed at how innocent the girls are.  I love that they think we will live together forever, and I will always be there taking care of them.  The day they don't need me to do things for them will be one of the saddest days of my life!!!  Don't get me wrong, I encourage my girls to be independent too, but I love that they still need and want their mommy. 

This is a converstation that took place on the way to school the other morning.

Shelby: "Mommy, if Abby is going to be a vet when she grows up, and Macey is going to be an artist, what in the world am I going to be?  I know, I will be a vet too."

Abby:  "No you won't, that's mine."  Then she thinks about it for a minute.  "Maybe that would be ok, we could work in the same office together."

Me: "That would be great.  I will work there too and answer your phones."

Abby (very excited now):  "Yeah, and we can drive to work together every  morning just like we do for school."

Me:  "That's right, because your going to live with me forever."

Abby:  "Of course I am.  Mommy, how old do I have to be to be a grown up."

Me: " Well, you are legally a grown up when you turn 18."

Abby:  "What?!? Does that mean I am suppossed to take care of myself then."

Me: "Well, sort of."

Abby:  "Well that's a great present.  You wake up on your 18th birthday and it's surprise your clothes aren't laid out for you and you have to fix your own hair."

If I can handle four shots, I can handle this

Shelby got her ears pierced tonight.  She had been asking to do it all week, and I did everything in my power to talk her out of it.  She wouldn't budge.  I told her it was going to hurt, and that we would have to clean it all the time.  Her response was that she got four shots at her check-up and it couldn't hurt as bad as that.  I really had no reason not to let her so I gave in.  She did try and back out at the very last second (at that point I was going to have to pay for the earings no matter what), but sitting on mommy's lap made her feel better.  She sat very still and only cried for a minute afterward.  I hate seeing my babies get hurt which is why I tried to talk her out of it!  The lady at the store said that a lot of mom's bring their kids in screaming and hold them down while they get their ears pierced.  Maybe it's just me, but I can't imagine forcing my baby to do something that was going to hurt them.  Especially something as unneccesary as pierced ears.  I didn't get any pictures of the actual event because they wouldn't let me use my camera in the store. 

Her ears starting burning a little.  I can still remember my ears burning when I got them pierced at the age of five!

Fiesta!!!

Shelby had a Fiesta at her school this week to celebrate Mexico's Independence day.  Being so close to Mexico, her preschool celebrates a lot of the Mexican holidays.  Her classroom is also a bilingual class so she has one teacher that speaks to her in English, and one teacher that speaks to her only in Spanish.  Shelby loves this and so do I.  Mrs. Veronica thinks Shelby is a hoot because if she doesn't know how to say something in Spanish, she just makes it up.  The Fiesta was a lot of fun, complete with a parade, pinata, dance, and lots of yummy Mexican food.  Shelby's favorite part was the dancing.  Two of the boys in her class, got into a shoving match over who was going to dance with Shelby.  At one point, they each had one of her arms.  I had to intervene before they tore her apart.  Shelby's response was to say "boys, I can dance with both of you."  She loves telling people that two boys were fighting over her.  Thanks to my wonderful friend Andrea, Shelby had the perfect dress to wear!

One of Shelby's friends at school.  I don't think she was expecting this hug!

All the kids in Shelby's class took off as soon as they saw the pinata.  So much for the parade!

This is the only picture I got of the two little boys who were fighting.  I had to intervene after that.  Look at Shelby's face.  She is delighted!

Lukas won the first dance.

While all the other kids were listening to a speach about Mexico winning its Independance, Shelby was playing a trade the "noisemaker" game with one of her friends.

That girl was intense when it came to hitting the pinata.  Just look at how she is standing!  Of course when the pinata finally opened, there were only packages of goldfish inside. Shelby said "What is that?  I want a bag of candy!"

Go Green!

Abby and Macey had their annual Go Green day at school this week. It always kicks off their fall fundraising event. The kids have a great time dressing up in their green outfits. This year Abby and Macey both won for most creative outfit. They would have been better, but the notes letting parents know about Go Green day were sent out the night before. I didn't have a chance to shop or think about it at all. The girls wore their green tutus from last year. Abby had outgrown her ribbon jeans so I hot glued some green and pink ribbon around the bottom of her old shorts. Talk about last minute! Our house was turned upside down after the girls and I dug through every drawer and closet looking for green accessories. We actually had a lot of fun together while doing it. I did not have as much fun cleaning it all up later that night!