Great Eight!!

Dear Audrey,

I feel like I just wrote you a letter a few days ago when you turned 7 and now here you are 8 years old!! You will be starting 3rd grade soon which is just so crazy to me. If I close my eyes I can picture you the very first time they put you in my arms. When you smile I can still see the same look in your eyes when you were 3 months old. It is so wonderful to be your mommy!!

Thank you for taking such good care of your sister. She loves you very much and looks up to you. I hope you continue to look in the mirror and know the girl staring back at you is so special. She is beautiful and loving and has a heart for just belting out a song.

Remember to continue to be a cheerful giver and a friend who listens. If you keep laughing and singing your way through life I know you will make be able to accomplish anything.

I Love you,
Mom

Texas in June

The cousins live in Georgia and we live in Arizona so we thought we were pretty smart when we decided to hop in the car and meet in the middle. San Antonio, TX, home of the Alamo, Riverwalk, keep away from rattlesnake signs, and a very very hot sun. This would mark our 3rd annual summer trip.

It didn't take the kids long this year to remember each other and they started hanging out right away. Brynn & Carissa were super cute to watch together.

Our first outing was Sea World and we got there when the gates opened and left at 9:30 when the gates closed. One of the highlights of the park was the all you can eat food wristband we bought everyone. They thought it was so cool they could go into any restaurant and get however much they wanted, whenever they wanted. Here they are on the side of the dolphin pool. The pool actually has dolphins in the water but they were more interested in hanging over the edge - go figure.

We learned this trip that the only dare-devils are Justin, Audrey, and Aunt Cecelia. They thought it would actually be fun to go on this roller coaster ride called Steel Eel. The sane people just watched.

After the ride Audrey said it was super scary... I like this picture with Byrnn looking up contemplating the ride. I have a feeling when she is tall enough she will join them.

The Rio Loco ride was actually the best. The Dad's took the kids first and rumor has it the kids were bummed when they had to come back and go with the Moms. But we proved them wrong. The line was so short we took a short cut and rode the ride 2 more times - making us the cooler parents (at least for a few minutes anyways!).

SeaWorld was really fun and the shows (Azul and Shamu Rocks) were really neat. There was a terrifying few moments when we lost Brynn and Carissa. They decided they could ride the Shamu Express without any parents and the crazy thing was the teenagers running the rides would have let them! But we ended Day 1 on a good note!

Day Two brought us to the heart of Texas - San Antonio Riverwalk. Did I mention Texas in June is Hot? This was not my best day. I could post more pictures and dwell on how HOT it was, how Justin told all the kids to get in the fountain (and they had tennis shoes on!), how we watched the 4D Skies Over Texas movie and every kid cried, or how went to the top of the Tower of America and it made me nauseous. But instead I will show you highlight of the day - Icees in huge Vegas style cups in the shade - ahhh.

Day 3 was the Natural Caverns. Underground and cooler then above. I really love these places especially when they start saying things like "this straw formation was formed 6,000,000,000 years ago, all right?" (Our 15-year old tour guide said all right - ALOT!). That is a large number and my eyes start to glaze over because I just can't comprehend it. I think Audrey's did too because once our guide said we couldn't touch anything - that is all she thought about.

It was relaxing and enjoyable and a great way to spend part of our last day. I will have to just mention here that on the way to the caverns I squished an ant in the car. I thought it was kind of weird but let it go. A few minutes later I squished another ant and happened to investigate a little further. Come to find out our whole car was infested with ants. It is crazy and annoying to watch a million ants forage for every goldfish and graham cracker crumb in your car. Glad to report a Wal-mart was near by (imagine that?) and Justin sprayed enough ant killer to keep our car pest free for the next 18 years.

After saying our tearful good-bye to the cousins we headed to Padre Island, TX for some beach time. On the second day there we decided to explore a dock that had a posting for a bird lookout. The parking lot looked into a fenced yard marked Alligator Habitat. I casually commented that I wouldn't want to enter and was glad there was a fence.

Off we went down the dock passing a large marshy area. My mind was telling me that it looked a lot like a place an alligator would love to live. Wouldn't you know it but the alligators did not stay behind the fence! They did live there. And we had the lovely privilege of walking right over one... How Does That Happen?

We didn't stay long.

The rest of the time was spent lounging on the beach. Watching the girls when they knew we were looking...

And when they didn't....

On the last day we ended up driving from Padre Island, TX to Buckeye, AZ in one day. It was a 17 hour drive and we were ready to be home. At the end of crazy trips like this I wonder why we do it? But, I think Carissa summed it up well in the sand...

Too much social media!!

Wow - I am really lagging on this blog posting thing!! The truth is I just can't keep up. Between Facebook and texting and blogging I just can't choose. There are pictures on my camera phone and pictures on my camera. I can post a picture here but can't get if off there. Too many updates and status changes and posts. There is digital scrapbooking vs blogging and it is just getting to be too much!!

I want to do what will matter most. I want to preserve memories but not be so caught up in tracking the memories I am not making any. The girls just had a Dance Recital and they did excellent. Audrey was in a Hip Hop number and she was straight gangsta' the whole day. Carissa did a tap routine to the Pinocchio song "Got No Strings".

The minute my child started to dance I attempted to film. Ha! Who can do that? I gave up in about 3 seconds because I was missing it!! I opted for the live show once instead of the playback forever.

Maybe I will look back in fifteen years and wish I did a better job of documenting each moment. **I really do want to tell them the whole story and not miss a detail.** But I am realizing I can only do so much. Some events will just have to be left up to the storytellers memory...

Five! 5! Five!

CARISSA GRACE IS 5!

Dear Carissa,

When I look at you today I no longer see a baby. I see a little girl who has begun to take shape. You are amazingly beautiful and smart. You have a this wacky sense of humor that can throw a whole crowd for a loop. I know you see so much and feel it deeply. I know you love your family with all of your being. You are content to steal Dad's bible and find a quite corner to read stories about Jesus to your bite but also just as happy to go wherever Audrey has suggested. You are a perfect little sister.

This year I know you will stretch out past your usual limits. You will learn to read and a whole new world will open up for you. You will notice I am missing you and you will fight leaving, even though you kind of really want to go. I will let you... because that is what Mommies do.


In the meantime, I will suck in every last ounce of that baby smell that you sometimes get right when I am putting you to bed. I will let you keep climbing right onto my lap when you stub your toe. I will savor each day of your 5th year.

Happy Birthday ~I Love You, Mom

Talent Show

When Audrey came to me and said she wanted to sing in the talent show, in front of the whole school, without any music, to her made up version of a song... well, I felt like I had to protect her somehow. From what? Now, I am not so sure.

As a Mom I just don't want her to ever feel failure or embarrassment. I don't want her to suffer or have her heart ache. But I realize now that is just silly; that my hardest moments have created a stronger me. So I stopped discouraging her. I let go and let her try out at the audition. When she got the notice that she had made the Talent Show I listened to her sing the song 1,000 different times 1,000 different ways. I took her to buy a cute new shirt and I did her hair in the morning. I watched her little self sit and wait until the second to the last act. And after one whole hour and 15 agonizing minutes she finally performed... and she was beautiful and she was amazing.

Volcano Science Experiment

Making a homemade clay for her volcano...

Being way to silly...

Who said Science was boring??!?

Ingredients :

Warm Water, Dishsoap, Food Coloring, Baking Soda, and Vinegar

Weekend at White Spar

It is easily forgotten but we have a travel trailer that we pay for every month but doesn't get nearly enough use. Last weekend I was bent on making sure we went somewhere in the trailer. Typical of us, we didn't decide where we were going until about 2:30 Friday, so I threw a few things together and convinced Justin we didn't even need to bring the trailer to our house - we had everything we needed... Let's just load up and go...

The girls didn't seem to notice but we forgot TONS! First off we left without any water in our tanks assuming we could get some up in Prescott. After driving around until 9:00 at night (not fun) we gave up and pulled into the last camp spot available with no water. In the dark. Backing in... ugh!
First thing in the morning the girls got right to work building fairy houses. They collected treasurers and climbed and built.

They laughed and dug in the dirt. They found sticks that were magical and rocks with a story.

While I spent Saturday night in the trailer with a sinus infection Audrey braved the cold night air wearing Dad's jacket because I forgot to pack hers. I don't think she noticed as she had made a great new best friend at the campsite right next door.

We woke up to a morning with no spoons for cereal but a visit from the tooth fairy instead. A good S'more will loosen a tooth right up!

We ended the weekend learning that being spontaneous doesn't always equal relaxing and fun. A couple extra minutes to plan out our trip would have probably saved us a few hours of heartache.

Happy to report - the girls noticed nothing and we have made yet another camping memory :)