Casting Crowns

An hour after the birthday party, we took the girls to Grandma's house. The girls loved spending their time with their grandparents, and it was a treat to spend the night.

Meanwhile, Brandon and I met up with some dear friends for dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and then....

Casting Crowns in concert!  It was awesome!  Their songs really "pack a punch" and are like mini sermons. I loved singing along with the sermons. :)

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for taking care  of the girls, and thanks friends for a GREAT night!



A Princess Party

The Saturday after Brandon got home, we had Maisie's friend birthday party. She had been counting down for a long time and could hardly wait. We chose four friends and the moms to join us for a mother/daughter tea party.

He is my attempt of creating a cute invite:

The table set for 10

A table setting. The girls love their tea cups and kept saying, "More tea please." Their tea was really apple juice.

Maisie with her princess cake. This was a quick plan B cake since my original plan did.not.work. Boy, was I frustrated! (Mad would be a more accurate word.) Thankfully she was thrilled with her cake.

 Sitting on the front step waiting for friends to arrive

The girls played so contently in the living room for quite some time. We then went out to the picnic table to decorate tiaras. The girls enjoyed this.

Maisie was excited (duh) to open her presents, and she has since enjoyed each one!

I was so thankful (and tired) when the party was over. It went so smoothly! Thanks to Brandon for helping get things ready and taking the other two away for the party. I know Analise enjoyed go-carting with you. :) And thanks to my in laws for letting Sadie sleep at their house. 

Final Fun

After my parents left, we only had two weeks to cram in the fun before school started. And the last week before school, Brandon was away on a business trip. Poor timing, but what can you do? We filled it up with fun activities.

We had things to do during the day, and I had a couple of meetings to attend. Thankfully the girls were excited to have Twin 1 and then R come over to stay with them.

Weds. night of that week we went to a community "Back to School Bash" put on by our church and other churches. The girls had a blast, and I was thankful to have another family to walk around with. Here they are before the inflatable obstacle course. Sadie went through the entire thing!

And what was my husband doing while we were at the bash? He was riding in a huge limo to downtown Chicago and going up the Sear's Tower. I think he had more fun. :)

Thursday we had our last Bible study out at our friend's house. They live on a small lake, and we tried to get there the Thursday afternoons that we could. The girls loved playing with friends, and I loved visiting with moms and also knowing my girls were getting fed in the Word.

Thursday evening Analise had her school open house. Grandma and Grandpa took the other two girls to the park, so I could focus on Analise. She enjoyed meeting her teacher and seeing her classroom.  She is excited for school to start.

Friday night we expected Brandon to be home for supper. However, when he called from the airport 3 hours away, he told me he was going to stay a little bit later to he could meet up with his good friend (who lives in CO) and his family. I was excited he got to do this. Since he wasn't going to be home, I took the girls (Grandma joined us) to the getting started weekend at the local college. We walked around with tons of other people winning things at booths and enjoying free things. We were also able to watch the marching bad perform a couple of their routines.

Some other highlights:

Some friends from church gave the girls this house; they are enjoying it!

 One afternoon/evening Analise helped me make several batches of salsa.

 The girls slept in the tent in the bedroom a couple of nights.

A Great Visit

My parents came out to visit a couple of weeks ago. We had a great time!  It had been a couple of years since they were out during the summer, so we decided to max it out with fun things. They got here on Weds. afternoon. After naps we took them to see the new library makeover. I love having my mom, the reading teacher, there to help Analise pick out books. And I think it's okay to say that she is thrilled to see Analise love reading. :) Weds for supper we had a good steak supper, and then we watched "Soul Surfer" after the girls were in bed.

Thursday morning dad and Brandon went golfing at the new "prestigious" courses in town. It was fun for both of them. While they did that, mom and I ran to Hobby Lobby with the girls. It was time to plan for Maisie's birthday party, and having mom around to help was a good time to do that.

Thursday afternoon we went school supply shopping. Again it was really nice having extra help. Thursday night we went to the fishing club, and they got to witness each girl reeling in a fish.

Pops playing with the girls.

Friday morning we went up to the barns at the county fair to see all the animals. We do this each year, so it was extra fun having them along.  We first stopped to look at the huge ag equipment. We missed having Brandon there to tell us all about it. :)

It's hard to tell, but they are standing in front of cows.

After the fair Grandmom and Pops took the girls for a picnic lunch while Brandon and I went out to Ruby Tuesdays. Good times for all of us. That afternoon we took the girls to a pool here in town that we haven't been to since I was pregnant with Maisie. The girls had SO much fun. Analise and Pops swam in the deeper end while I hung out in the shallow side with the other two. Friday evening we went to the mall (while Brandon went fishing). I don't think we will ever forget watching the girls have the time of their lives in the shoe dept.

Pops has always read books to the girls, and now the Nook is reading the book.

Saturday we took them down to the lake for some boating. We had a little luck fishing before tubing.

After we got back from the lake, we ate dinner at Old Chicago.

Sunday was church, golfing for the guys and relaxing for the women.

Sunday evening Maisie opened her birthday presents. She LOVES this nightgown.

They left Monday morning, and there were several sad girls in the house - myself included. We moped around for awhile so sad that we can't see each other more often...yet so thankful for the time we had together.

Tutus

My mom made these tutus for my girlies. Aren't they adorable?

Sadie

Sadie came into the room looking like this. Definitely picture worthy. :)

This is what grows when you are away for almost two weeks.  

The Royal Gorge

*warning - many photos*

Saturday morning the girls got up earlier than we would like, so Brandon took them to get donuts. It was nice to get ready without interruptions. :)

After breakfast we made the hour drive to the Royal Gorge.  We ate lunch at Pizza Hut and then went to the bridge. It was just the right thing for our family; it entertained us all, and Dave and Sarena hadn't been there for years, so it was something different for them, too.

Here's the bridge; we walked across it two times. It took me a bit of time to get used to the swaying moving, especially when cars drove over it.

 Starting the 1/4 mile walk across the bridge

 We spent a lot of  time looking at the beautiful scenery, and the men also liked looking at the construction of the bridge. The background made for good pictures...

 This sign made me laugh.

 According to Sadie, this was the "choo-choo in the air."

Sadie got down to look through the cracks. What a girl.

 Brandon had the camera...

 When we got to the other side, the girls enjoyed a petting zoo, and Maisie got a ride on the donkey, Blueberry.

 Analise loved the big elk! A quick funny - when we first saw the elk, I said to Maisie, "Look at the antelope. What does Antelope start with?" She answered, "A." Very good! Then Analise pipes up, "Except that they are elk mom."  Oh yea....I laughed so hard.

 The men gave the girls' legs a break for awhile.

 We took this tram down to the river at the bottom of the gorge.

 While we waited in line, we enjoyed watching several hummingbirds.

Analise next to the Arkansas River

Before we left, we took a little train ride. It was worth the two bandaids Sadie's knees required from her excitement in getting to the train.

We left the Gorge five hours later and enjoyed a Mexican meal at a local restaurant. We had so much fun today!  We enjoyed our time with Dave and Sarena - thank you SO much for helping with the girls and having fun with us. We have talked about this day many times, and each time we are so glad we were able to experience it with both of you!