Bonfire Memorial Visit

I intended to include this blog much earlier, but time has gotten away from me. I can't believe it has been almost a month since I updated our blog. While we were down visiting my family for Thanksgiving, we took the girls to College Station to visit the campus, shop, and eat. Aaron and I had not been to the bonfire memorial so that was at the top of our "to do" list while we were there. It's hard to believe that is has been over 10 years since the bonfire collapse. I can still remember like it was yesterday hearing the news of the horrific tragedy. It was hard to hear then news then, but much more emotional being on campus and reading about the individuals who lost their lives that day. The details that went into building the memorial are amazing. I am glad we had the opportunity to visit the memorial and pay our respects to those most severely affected by the events of that day.

Pulling Hair

The girls think it is fun to jump on our bed and play hide-n-seek under the pillows. I stepped into the closet to put something away and Makenzie calmly stated, "Mom, Ashlyn pulled my hair." Since Makenzie wasn't screaming in pain, I finished what I was doing and then walked over to see what was going on. I am not sure which was more shocking....the calmness in Makenzie's voice when she told me what happened, or the clump of hair that she was holding in her hands. I was in complete shock at the amount of hair Ashlyn pulled from her sister's head. My belief that Makenzie is hard headed came to fruition when you see the picture I took. Now that Ashlyn has observed she gets a reaction out of Makenzie when she pulls her hair, she has since repeated the incident twice. Here's hoping she will start to understand after frequent visits to time-out. In the meantime, I have told Makenzie to keep her hair away from her sister....

Pre-Thanksgiving trip

We headed to Tomball to help celebrate my niece's 6th birthday the weekend before Thanksgiving. Madelyn's birthday party was held in the building where she has gymnastics. All of the attendees were given the opportunity to jump from the trampoline, high bars, and rope, into the foam pit. There were other activities planned, and given the size of the group, I was very impressed at how well the kids participated and behaved. I am waiting to get pictures from my sister so I can post Makenzie on the high bar and Madelyn swinging from the rope. Of course, my monkey of a child had no fear even though she has never been on the high bar before. I have to believe that both of my girls inherited their climbing genes from their daddy. I certainly don't like being up high, so I know they didn't get this from me!
Madelyn wanted to go out to eat at a restaurant in which whip cream is put on her face. So we ate dinner at a local restaurant in town to celebrate her actual birthdate. It's hard to believe that my niece is 6 and that she is in kindergarten. I can remember when Heather and JD brought her home from the hospital like it was yesterday. We love you Madelyn and are so glad we were able to celebrate your birthday with you!!

Ashlyn's clothing issues

Lately, Ashlyn has been pretty adamant about what she wants to wear (or doesn't want to wear). Not long after she wakes up, she wants me to take off her pajamas. This is followed by her taking off her diaper. If we don't quickly replace her diaper with a new one and put some pants over the diaper, she is quick to rip it off. She took her diaper off so many times Saturday-even managed to take off her pants by herself, that I had to resort to a onesie so my child could be clothed. At one point this weekend, Ashlyn removed her diaper, moved our potty training toilet over to the kennel, and proceeded to boost herself up onto the dog kennel. She was so proud of herself that she gave us the biggest grin and started bouncing up and down on top of the crate (yes, she is only 19 months old). Last week, she insisted on putting a pair of shorts over her jeans. I finally had to put them out of sight because she apparently thought I would let her out of the house dawning her new attire. I hope this is just a phase in which she is trying to exhibit some independence.............

Playdate with Trent

My good friend Tera let me keep her son Trent this morning while she went to the doctor. Trent and Ashlyn aren't even three weeks apart so I enjoyed watching them "play together." Trent had fun running from room to room checking out everything. He managed to find his way to Makenzie's room to push the buttons on her radio. Trent is quite a little dancer so anytime there was music on, he liked to show us his moves. He fits right in at our house since Ashlyn is quite a dancer too! Both Ashlyn and Trent enjoyed stacking blocks and knocking them over. I tried to get Trent to ride the rollercoaster (Ashlyn even volunteered to show him how it works), but he insisted on pushing the music button instead of sitting in the seat. I think somewhere down the road, Tera and Jeff will be purchasing a dog...Trent was very excited to see them! I captured some cute pictures of the two hanging out. Sorry about Trent's hair Tera......Ashlyn was a little obsessed with touching it!

Halloween '09

We took the girls to Hunter's Glen Baptist Church for a third year in a row for their Fall Festival. Aaron was in charge of costumes this year, and since he spent three weeks off and on in Austin, costumes were a last minute decision in our household. We ended up borrowing a giraffe costume for Makenzie and a Dumbo costume for Ashlyn. Aaron had some great ideas for the girls to go as pairs, so hopefully one of his ideas will come to fruition next year. Makenzie is the only one who really gets the costume concept anyway, so it was a quick and inexpensive way to go this year. We gave her the option of dressing like a princess, but she chose the giraffe instead. Perhaps she was tired of wearing the tiara that I pinned to her head for her school fall festival. Makenzie also wanted to go trick or treating this year so she and Ashlyn had the opportunity to go with Makenzie's friend Kylie once we got back home. Aaron went along while I handed out candy and he said the girls really had a good time. I think Makenzie really just enjoyed tagging along with her friend Kylie. Here are some pics from the day.

Owens Pumpkin Patch

The girls and I took our annual outing to the Pumpkin Patch today. We usually go earlier in October, but it just hasn't worked out this year to go sooner. Despite it being a little windy this morning, the girls had a great time. Last year when we went, I had Ashlyn bundled up in a front carrier. This year, she walked all over the Pumpkin Patch. I didn't even think to bring a stroller, which I guess worked out fine since she did a good job keeping up with her sister. The girls started out feeding the goats. Their feed quickly disappeared so we made our way to see other animals on the farm. Makenzie LOVED feeding this little pony that was all by itself in one particular area. I actually don't even know if we were supposed to be over in that area, but it was the only place that didn't have tons of people. We found some hay on the ground and the little pony kept gobbling it all up. Ashlyn had fun feeding the goats and also petting the pony. However, she did not like the fact that her big sister was allowed to take a little tractor ride without her. I explained to her that next year she would have the opportunity to ride, but I don't think she quite understood what I was saying. Here are some pictures of the girls...

Halloween at the Heard Museum

We spent an early halloween at the Heard Museum this past Saturday night. I first heard about the event from my friend Jennifer Stein and then heard several commercials on KLTY. The science teacher in me wanted to see the "dinosaurs alive" exhibit where you have the opportunity to see life-size animatronic dinosaurs move and roar. Along the trail, there were people handing out candy to the kiddos. I was a little surprised at Makenzie's lack of interest in the dinosaurs. Ashlyn paid more attention to them than her sister and didn't mind me taking pictures of her in front of them.....perhaps because she really has no clue what they are.
I think it is fair to say that we were all a little disappointed in the outing. It was a pretty pricey event for the little offered. Jennifer and I decided we would go back with the kids when they are older and enjoy the museum in a non-halloween related event. Here are some pics from the outing....

Comments of a 3yr old

Over the past 3-4 months, Makenzie has said some pretty funny things that if I don't write them down, I will forget them. Now let's see if I can remember all of them...

I was vacuuming one day and I said, "Makenzie, mommy needs to teach you how to vacuum so you can vacuum while I mop." My 3yr old's response....
"Mommy, why don't you do both and I will just play."


In the excitement of having pooped in the potty and wanting mommy to come see, my 3yr old's response.....
"look mommy, it looks like chicken." (okay, that one is pretty gross)


Makenzie is having her daily morning oatmeal and says....
"mommy, can you get me a drink?..... because that's what mommies do!"

During prayer time before bed.....
"thank you God for my bears, the curtains, the door.....no, not my door....my pillow, for Ashlyn, mommies, and daddies....and please God help mommy get me dressed for church in the morning." (not sure why I need help, but she is very kind to pray for me!)

I know there are lots more......these are the most recent. I eagerly wait for what's next......

Ashlyn's new words

Ashlyn's vocabulary has really taken off this past month. For the longest time, she wouldn't say much. Perhaps that is because her sister did most of the talking for her. Some of her new word/phrases are backpack, oh my, book baby (for baby book), please, thank you, go play, and mommy..tee tee (no, not me, but she is telling me she wants to). At this, I find it hard not to smile and take her to the toilet and let her sit on it. She seems interested, so I figure I might as well try. I am hoping she will be easier to potty train than her sister!

Playing with Daddy

It's been a while since my last post. I am doing good these days to just check my email. The girls are growing up so fast. Makenzie is now 3 1/2 and Ashlyn is 17 months. I love to watch the door open in the evenings when Aaron comes home. The girls squeal with delight and run down the hall to greet their daddy. Makenzie barely gives him time to change his clothes before requesting him to place chase, hide n seek, or her new favorite, duck, duck goose. I captured a few pictures this week that display their affection for daddy.

Vacation

Two weeks ago we went on our first big family vacation since Ashlyn was born. We flew to Florida to spend a week on Fort Walton Beach. The place we stayed at was very nice and included four different pools for the girls to play in. However, we spent most of our time at the beach which had beautiful white sand and blue/green water. Since I grew up close to Houston, Galveston beach was the closest beach near our home. I have to say that unless we happen to be in the Galveston area, I can't foresee taking a trip there with the girls after going to Florida. The not so white sandy beach and murky water pale in comparison to the views we had in Florida. We took the girls to the Gulfarium one morning which I guess would be a very, very, very small scale version of SeaWorld. I think Aaron and I cared more about seeing the shows than the girls. We also drove into Destin a couple of times which was only about 6 miles from where we were staying. You hear a lot about Destin, so we had to check it out. From what I could tell, the beach is the same whether you are in Destin or Fort Walton Beach. I am so glad we took our vacation when we did because there weren't many people at the beach until the end of the week when more arrived due to the holiday weekend. We had a great time and definitely decided we would go back!