Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! 

As always, I love it when the girls will let me take pictures of them. Audie was my main model this time around. I really wanted to get good ones of all 3 of the girls- to have a set, but Corinne didn't want her picture taken. I got one cheesy smile from her. Selah cooperated a bit with some coaxing. 

Of course Audie's serious streak can only last a few minutes. It doesn't take long before her urge to fart around pops in. I love this side of her. She makes herself laugh, and I hope she always considers herself funny! I know since she is my kid, she is probably more (or, only) funny to me. But I laugh when I see this pictures.

This is the only smile Corinne would give me

And Selah gave me a few minutes to take pictures of her.

And for some exciting news, (since most of you readers know by now anyway) We're getting a puppy!! Probably in another week or so, we will have our pup picked out, and I will be able to post a picture. I'll give more details then. Everyone but Corinne is excited. She (like me) is a cat person. Hopefully her mind will change when the pup actually gets here, but for now, Zona is her true One and Only. Stay Tuned!

5 Years old!

 Audie turned 5 a week ago. Her birthday festivities drew out quite a long while. And, she took advantage of her birthday too... She may have used it a tad to get what she wanted. I have no idea who she would take after by doing that!...

The weekend before her birthday, we had a "Messy Party". We haven't had birthday parties for the girls other than family and close friends. This was the first time besides their one year old parties that we had an actual "party". We invited all of her friends and they were all gracious to come a be a part!

Our Messy Party theme included everything about getting messy! We filled pools with water beads, mud, flour, slime, had LOTS of Silly String, whipped cream, shaving cream, finger painting, and a slip and slide. The kids LOVED it...especially the boys. Not so sure the boys' moms loved me for hosting this kind of party, but it definitely was a hit, and the kids had fun.

mud fights....

I think Selah got caught in the crossfire of a flour fight.

Some of the participants...

 It was a really great time.
THANK YOU to my friend Lauren who took all of these pictures at the party. THANK YOU!

The end of the week consisted of a trip to Kansas City. We visited with Matt's family for a couple of days, and then spent two days as a family on the Plaza. We intended for the last half to be a family vacation since we never did one earlier this summer. While it was nice to have down time, it didn't really feel like a vacation. Kansas City is just too familiar to the both of us to feel like we were "away". Still, the girls has lots of fun, and we made some new family memories.

While we were there I took both of the girls' birthday pictures.
Below are pictures of one of the most spunkiest girls you will ever meet! Audie continually has the gift to make us laugh, and the gift to laugh at herself. She is fiery and feisty, and I love this girl to death! 

Audie's Quilt and Smiles

How did I ever think that I wouldn't like quilting?!
Lesson to learn: Don't ever not try anything. I thought that I would never have the patience to quilt, but after doing my first one last summer (ish), quilting has become one of my favorite hobbies. It hasn't been the easiest, I have wasted my fair share of fabric, but I am happy with the results of the few quilts I have made.

I have wanted to make a plaid quilt since I started quilting...After trying and failing once, a friend of my found a book that explained the importance of color selection to get plaids to work. She gave me the book for my birthday, and it helped so much! I am definitely going to make another one of these quilts for myself- in none other than GRAY tones! That will probably be my next quilt.

This quilt will go on Audie's bed. I hope she will love it for years to come!

I have to say I love it (LOVE IT!) when the girls ask me to take their picture. Audie wanted to do a photo shoot last night with her new hat. She asked me to straighten her hair and then she went to put on chapstick for the pictures. (Maybe I should be worried?) While I don't mind the girls liking to look their best, I do want to emphasize the beauty of being natural and like the way God made them- and I hope they learn that early and hold onto it.

Audie found it amusing to blow enough bubbles to overflow over the side of her cup of milk.
Typically, I don't let that mess-making behavior slide, but she giggled over it and enjoyed herself enough that I wanted to grab the camera for the memory.

A few of the smiles after Audie was finished getting her hair done.

A Jeep Hurricane, cousin picture, and drinking from the drain

We went to my sister's house this morning to play. My nephew Cameron has a powerwheels Jeep that the girls' have been dying to ride in. After a few rides around with Cameron as the driver...

...Audie took her turn for a spin or two.

 -followed by a group grandkid picture for Grandma on Mothers Day.
Audie, Selah, Corinne, Kylie, and Cameron

And what happens when you leave a 3 year old to get her own water?

She creates her own way of doing it!
(Previous to this picture, she stuck her straw into those little tiny squares that drain the water that spills.)

Ear Piercing

Audie has been mentioning here and there about getting her ears pierced. I never jumped on the idea, because I thought it would be a fleeting one. But Saturday she mentioned it again, about the 4th time over a month. We decided to go ahead and let her get it done.
Matt kept telling her it was going to hurt, but she kept saying she was brave.

She climbed right up in the chair. She was pretty excited.

 Corinne is such a drama queen. She closed her eyes and kept saying "I can't watch- tell me when it's over!" She does this same thing whenever Audie or Selah gets shots at the doctor.

 She was a little unsure after it was done-- I think it hurt her- but she didn't cry!

 She looks like a whole year older now. She went from cute to pretty.