Date Night with My Sweet Girl
My sweet date tonight wanted to eat at McDonald’s.
Last weekend I was able to go on a date night with my sweet Brina Bee! She was very specific about what she wanted to do that night so I went along with her date night plan. First, she wanted to go to the Goodwill Clearance Center, walk through a craft store, browse through used book store, and eat at McDonald’s. We had a blast going through the bins at the Goodwill store looking for treasures. Her big find was a cute FurReal pet dog (new it retails for about $90) and we paid between $1 to $2 for it (the goodwill clearance store charges by the pound). All it needed was a good cleaning and some fresh batteries. She was so excited!
It was a lot of fun walking, talking, exploring, and eating dinner with my sweet Brina. Love my time with her, listening to her talk, and watching her get excited. She is a real sweetheart. I didn’t take any pictures of us shopping, walking, and exploring because the only time we stopped moving was when we finally sat down to eat at McDonald’s! She kept us going. We packed a lot of fun into one evening. Love you Brina!
Love listening to her tell stories, laugh, and have fun together!
Thankful for extra time with my sweet B!
STEM Event at Roper Mountain Science Center
Jake & Brina working on her model!
Karlie’s creation is done, now it’s ready to see if it will survive the test! She’s proud of her creation and confident it will pass the testing….
Brina adding the finishing touches on her creation!
All ready for testing! Proud of her cool design.
Karlie watching carefully as they get ready to drop the big board on her creation. The goal was to make a creation out of the bag of goodies that they give you that will not change its shape once the board has been dropped on it (including none of the balloons popping). She did it!!!Brina putting her creation on the testing platform, she was concerned about her balloons popping, but it passed with flying colors! Way to go Brina!
Jake was a pro in no time at riding the Segway!
Brina riding a Segway all by herself, she did well!
Karlie learning how to ride the Segway! She’s getting the hang of it!
Karlie watching the show at the Planetarium
Snow Day!
It’s snowing!!
Since we live in South Carolina, when it snows during the winter it is a big deal, especially for the kids. The girls have been waiting all winter for the snow to come to SC. They were so very excited when we finally got a snow storm and they got a day off from school so they could play in the snow. The pets enjoyed some extra play time with the kids too. We packed in a lot of fun activities during their time off of school. We even got to try out their new sled!
Brina so excited that it is finally snowing this winter here in South Carolina!
Karlie running around in our first snow!
Brina’s first rainbow “snow” cone
Karlie loving her rainbow snow cone!
The goats are not really sure about all this white stuff.
They made a mini snowman!
Brina loves sledding down the side yard! Fun snow day adventures!
She’s laughing, but trying to avoid hitting the tree at the same time!
The goats with their thick winter coats were more concerned by the snow covering their food (leaves) on the ground then the cold!
Karlie was a little more cautious on the sled, but she zoomed down the hill several times!
Brina having a blast!
So excited to play in the snow!
“Hey Mom! Let’s go sledding!”
Very excited about having a snow day off from school!
Karlie all smiles!
Skipper loved having the girls home and playing outside for the day!
Disney On Ice: Princesses and Heroes
One of the girls big surprise Christmas gifts were tickets to “Disney on Ice Princesses and Heroes”! We made this crossword puzzle to share the surprise with them. It took them a couple minutes to make the connection, but they were very excited and couldn’t wait to go on this adventure!
Karlie doing her Disney on Ice Word Search
Brina doing her Disney on Ice Word Search
We made it to Disney on Ice! So excited! We got their a little early to find our seats (we got great seats were a perfect view)!
Tinker Bell, Mickey, and Minnie Mouse
It was beautiful watching all the characters skate.
Bell and gang on the ice!
Mickey and Minnie Mouse
Aladdin
Seven dwarfs
The fire was super cool!
Cinderella coming onto the ice in her carriage
So much fun!
Watching all the characters on the ice
The girls were literally on the edge of their seats during the show. They had a blast! It was a lot of fun and wonderful watching them get so excited too. Thankful for a fun evening with my family!
Brina and Karlie’s Show
Brina and Karlie put on a show for us recently. It was called “The Town of Twenty”. It was quite an interesting performance. Full of singing, dancing, acting, audience participation, and more fun. It is wonderful seeing them use their creativity and come up with some neat ideas.
Brina singing during one of her parts in the play.
Another fun part of the play.
Karlie playing one of her parts.
Brina all smiles
Chatting with the girls after their play. Love watching them act out their show and having some time to chit-chat with them afterward. Thankful for our girls, their creativity, and their excitement about life.
Family Game – Ticket to Ride
We got a game from my parents this Christmas called Ticket to Ride. We’ve already played the game a couple of times and the kids love it! It is a great game plus it is educational. The girls have had fun learning the names of different cities across the map. We even went through the map and pointed out all the places listed that we have been too together. So cool looking at the map of the United States and laughing at all the great memories.
The board full of a rainbow of trains. Karlie got the longest train and Brina was able to block her parents yet Jake still managed to pull off a win this round. Although Brina was the champion our first round. I had a lot of fun, but unfortunately I am not an expert at strategies with this game yet. Love playing games and spending time with my family.
This is a great family game. If you are looking for a wonderful and educational family game I would recommend it. Our girls are 8 and they can play the game on their own yet it is enjoyable for us as parents too.
Welcome New Year 2014!
We had a fun time bringing in the New Year! It started a little later than we expected because Jake was on call with work, but we were able to pack in a lot of games, snacks, a play, and more exciting activities into the evening. The girls stayed up until midnight again this year to watch the ball drop and bring in the 2014 New Year! They were super excited to start the New Year with confetti!
We talked about all the amazing memories we had in 2013. All of us agreed that 2013 was an awesome year and we packed in a lot of great memories together as a family. Several fun trips – a cruise, Vermont, Charleston, Kansas, Atlanta, North Carolina, and more! We are truly blessed and have so much to be grateful for in our lives.
We discussed goals and what we are looking forward to in 2014. The girls decided they wanted to think of at least one goal for 2014. They took a whole 2 seconds to come up with at least one of their goals.
Brina’s first goal – “Spend more time outside! I love playing and being outside!”
Karlie’s first goal – “Read more books with 400 or more pages!”
The girls make me smile because in many ways they couldn’t be more different! One of the themes for 2014 Brina suggested was “Anything Can Happen!” Thankful for our girls and the opportunity to bring in the New Year with them. I am looking forward to seeing what God has for our family this upcoming year.
The confetti was a lot of fun and I am sure it will spread itself through the house even though we tried to sweep it up.
Creative Kids: New Hot Pads!
Karlie’s colorful hot pad she made!
The other day I was working on several items that needed to be done so the girls took some time to do some crafts. I wasn’t sure what they were up to, but they were staying busy and being good. The next morning I was presented with two brand new colorful hot pads! One that Karlie had made and one from Brina! What a special treat it is to get such a sweet gift first thing in the morning. Thankful for my thoughtful girls. I am very blessed and will think of them every time I use their beautiful hot pads.
Brina’s new hot pad she made for me!
My beautiful new hot pads! Love them and especially love the two sweet girls that made them for me.
Game Closet
Our game closet has been cleaned out and re-organized so we can more easily access the games. We got rid of some of the games the girls had outgrown! Some of the games we donated and others we sold at our garage sale or online.
Games have always been a fun activity in our family. It came to our attention a few months ago that it would be beneficial to do a weekly game night with the kids. Playing games, we have noticed, has allowed for extra teachable moments in our family. While everyone wants to play well it’s good to learn how to have fun and be a good sport even if you cannot win every game. There are a lot of positive attributes to playing games such as reading, counting, strategies, waiting turns, being a team player and so much more.
While we play at least once a week on our regular “family game night” ! We often pull out a game when friends are over or at some point (or two) over the weekend. Playing games together allows everyone to relax, spend quality time together, while talking, and creating memories. To keep it fair we roll a dice to see who will be picking the game for the evening. If time allows we may play two games or stretch a game out over several evenings. Our girls look forward to game night every week!
Jello Jigglers
The girls had a lot of fun making Jello Jigglers after school to share with their friends who were coming over after dinner. We had a great time doing this treat together while talking about memories, the girls day at school, and the fun we were anticipating having with our friends that evening.
I remember making Jello Jigglers when I was a little girl with my Great Grandma Vi so this activity brought back a lot of sweet memories of my Grandma Viola. It is wonderful being able to carry on this fun tradition with my girls too.
The girls had a wide variety of shapes and animals from birds, flowers, Mickey Mouse, hearts, bears, rabbits, and more. They had a blast choosing the cookie cutters and getting this special treat together to share with their friends. I would say it was a big hit because there were only a couple “jigglers” left by the end of the night. 🙂
