Abby and Lainey's Day Out

Abby did not want a party for her eighth birthday... instead, she wanted to spend the day with her BFF, Lainey, in Waco. The biggest thing was "NO SISTERS INVITED!" You see, Abby and Lainey are BOTH the middle child, with one big sister and one little sister, and they wanted it to be "just them". SO... that is what we did!

They had a ball. We went to the Baylor campus and visited the bookstore, where we purchased them an official stuffed Baylor Bear. Then we went out onto the campus. We visited the Baylor Bears: Joy, and Lady. Here are Abby and Lainey at the Bear Pits (if you look closely, you can see Joy in the background.)
Then we went down and had a look at the creek that runs through campus. It surely is BEAUTIFUL there this time of year!!
Then we went to lunch at Red Lobster. Here are the girls in front of the lobster tank.
They enjoyed their popcorn shrimp, and their ice cream for dessert.
Abby was HORRIFIED that the waiters came over to sing "Happy Birthday" to her!! She turned about 3 different shades of red!!
After Red Lobster, we went to "Practically Picasso" and the girls painted some pottery. I DID take a pic of this, but haven't uploaded it yet... Oh, well. Just imagine 2 cute girls standing in front of a table wearing aprons. Abby chose to paint a duck, and Lainey picked a cupcake jewelry box. They will be adorable... The store is firing them this week, and I'll pick them up the next time I'm in Waco.

After the pottery store, we went to the mall and just walked around for awhile. They still weren't ready to leave when I announced that our time was up!!

We ALL had a really fun day (including me!!) Somehow, I am pretty sure that it was the PERFECT day for our little "middle" children!

Abby's Day

Today my little Abby turned 8 years old. She had very definite ideas about what she wanted for her birthday this year. She wanted her Ju Ju to make her cake. (Ju Ju was overjoyed, and made her a yummy cake, just like Abby wanted.) She wanted pizza for dinner (I was overjoyed - no cooking! Yay!!) And she did not want a "party". She wants to take her BFF, Lainey, to Waco this weekend and have a day with just her. (We will be doing this very thing on Saturday.) Abby knows who she is, and I am so lucky to be her mother. Her is a photo of her tonight with her cake.And her she was at 5 years old, ready to play T-ball.
And here she was on her 1st birthday. Bring on the cake!!!
And here she was the day she came home from the hospital. What a beautiful baby girl!
Happy birthday, Abby. I pray that you will always be as sweet, pure, honest, and completely wonderful as you are right now. I could not love you more. Watching you is like watching my own heart walk around outside of my body! You make me proud every single day, and I am honored and SO very lucky to be your Mom. Happy, Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

The Recap.

Well, sadly, Spring Break has come and gone, and I didn't really update my blog. To tell the honest truth, I didn't really do ANYTHING that I needed to. I basically just enjoyed my family. My Mom and Dad came up for part of the week, and we just hung out at the house. Luke took a couple of days off of work, and we managed to take the kids on a picnic and a hike at Meridian State Park. They had a ball! I did manage to make a trip to Waco and get Easter dresses for 3 little girls, and also managed to find a dress for Matt and Leslie's wedding in April (I think... unless I change my mind about it. I like it and all, but it's not PERFECT... We shall see if I find anything I like better before April 24th! :-)

I did not clean or organize my house (which I needed to do.) I did not work on my taxes (although I did work on them tonight.) I did not work in the yard (which is a mess.) I did not take any exotic or amazing trips (and really, I didn't even want to!) I did not write 3 weeks of lesson plans (which would have been smart.) I did not make and freeze dozens of home-cooked meals (which would have been really, really smart.)

I did spend some time with my family, which I am thinking might be the most important thing to them! :-)

Grace's Zoo Trip

While the big sisters and I were at the concert, Grace and her Daddy had a day together at the Ft. Worth zoo. They had such a good time.This was one of her favorite parts... Feeding the birds!

Concert Recap

Well, we did it!! We successfully loaded a big bus of an RV full of 2 daddies (to drive), and one little brother (who was unimpressed with this whole "concert" thing), 4 mommies, and 8 little girls and made a road trip to Dallas to see Miss Taylor Swift LIVE in concert. It was a blast and a half! Here are some of our little lovelies, waiting for Taylor to take the stage... (all I had to take pics with was my phone... this is the best I could do for photos!!)And here is a shot of the stage!
We had a ball! Miss Gracie went to the Ft. Worth zoo with her daddy and also had a fantastic time. She was quite sure it was better than any silly concert!! :-) (Her daddy DID take a few photos, which I will share with you next time.)

It was a memory that I know the girls and I will share for a very, very long time!

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I LOVE ya', tomorrow!!

You're only a DAY AWAY!!!

No, I am not having little orphan Annie flashbacks... It is another famous young singer that has us so excited over at Casa de Killian.

Because, TOMORROW is the day that I'm taking my two older daughters to see TAYLOR SWIFT in concert!!

They got the tickets for Christmas, and have been anxiously awaiting March 11th for quite a while. We are loading up right after school tomorrow with some great friends on a big RV bus, and heading to Dallas for the big show.

Gracie is not sad AT ALL, because for Christmas SHE got a ticket to the Ft. Worth Zoo and the promise of a day alone with her Daddy. She could not be more excited! (Because, really, she doesn't care about Taylor Swift... she's much more into monkeys and crocodiles.)

Of course, when I bought these tickets, I was a stay-at-home Mom... who didn't worry about work commitments and such. Naturally, my first "big" after-hours commitment at work is scheduled for tomorrow night. It is open house at our school!!! Ack!!! Imagine my stress level when I found THAT out!! Luckily, I have a GREAT boss who understood that I had these tickets LONG before I had a job!!!!

So, TOMORROW is the day!! Can't wait to see Ms. Swift LIVE!!!!!

Basketball

Kate is playing on a 5th grade basketball "Tournament Team". They are really having a great time! They played this weekend in a tourney, and won 3rd place.As you can see, they are pink tie-dye, and their team is the "Dynamite".

My theory is, the team with the cutest uniforms wins.

I think THEY ARE THE WINNERS!! :-)

Never let it be said...

... that I'm not an upstanding citizen. I did, indeed, show up to fulfill my civic duty as a juror. Imagine my dismay when I got to the courthouse annex and saw AT LEAST 175 people in the courtroom. (How do I know 175, you ask? Simple. The juror seated next to me was #175. SO there were at least that many people there.)

Any-hoo, I'm thinking, "This is going to be a LONG day. If they have this many jurors, there is absolutely no telling how many juries they are seating today. The judge came into the courtroom, and at 8:59, he said, "I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is, you all came down here for nothing today. We settled all of our criminal cases this morning by plea bargain. But, I didn't know that would happen until this morning, so I couldn't call each of you and tell you not to appear. The good news is, since you DID show up here this morning and presented your juror card, this will count as your jury service, and you will not be called again for at least one year. Thank you for coming today."

Wow. The best of both worlds! And the best part of it was, I was only gone from my classroom for all of about 20 minutes.

I am pretty sure I must be living right!! :-)