• What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say?

    Our fortunes!

    Recently we had Chinese food and the following were our fortunes from the meal:

    • Jake – “You will be traveling to distant lands for business purposes” (He travels a lot of places for work!)
    • Bridgette – “You will travel to many exotic places in the next few years.” (I LOVE to travel.  I have already been to many amazing places over the years and I cannot wait to see more of the world.  Plus, sometimes I get to travel with Jake when he goes on work trips.  Maybe our fortunes were suppose to be together, sounds like more fun for me though! 🙂  Already looking forward to these exotic places we are going to together!)
    • Brina – “You have a flair for adding fanciful dimension to any story.” (She is definitely the more fancy of the two kids!)
    • Karlie – “You will soon be involved in many gatherings and parties.”  (I am curious about what she’s going to be doing!)

    It was a fun evening of relaxing with the family, eating Chinese food, and laughing about silly fortunes.  We have so much to be thankful for in our lives.  We are richly blessed and take many things for granted every day.  Let’s treasure the time with have with our friends, families, and those around us.  It is not impossible to run into people that you know even if you are across the world.  Our lives leave an imprint of each person we interact with whether it is only once or many times!  Make each moment count for good!

  • Flashback Friday: Giggles & Sweet Cheeks

    All Smiles - Brina and Karlie (7 Months, Spetember 2005)c

    Brina and Karlie all smiles!

    Today’s flashback Friday takes us back a few years to 2005 when the girls were only 7 months old.  They had the cutest pinchable and kissable cheeks during those early growing years.  When they were not exploring, eating, or learning new activities they were giggling.

    It was adorable when they would make each other laugh over something silly.  After 12 weeks bedrest, a month in NICU, and 5 months on house arrest it was nice to get out and explore with the little ones.  Although leaving the house with two infant carriers, diaper bag, purse, stroller, and all other little necessities at that age was quite an adventure in itself.

    At that age they didn’t have much hair so we would use washable Elmer’s glue to stick their little bows to their heads, ha.  When we gave them a bath it would come right off!  It is difficult to believe that these giggling 7 month olds turned double digits last month!  Time goes by quickly when your having fun.

  • Slumber Party Adventure With Cousins

    Slumber Party Activities

    Dinner time – kid friendly meal (chicken nuggets, mac-n-cheese, salad, blueberries, and oranges)

    The kids were so EXCITED!  We’ve been trying to get a slumber party on the calendar with their cousins for a few months now and we did it last weekend.  The kids had a blast playing together – nerf, legos, relays, games, and so much more fun activities during their stay with us.  Everyone was well behaved, full of energy, and went right to sleep as soon as they hit the sleeping bags that night.  One of our girls got up a couple of times, but my nephews we never heard another peep out of them until after 7:30 the next morning!

    After some play time the next day and breakfast we headed out on a science adventure.  We went to Roper Mountain Science Center’s 2nd Saturday event on H2O Oceans which was a blast!  The kids had a grand time together.  Thankful for some fun with the kids.

    P1340426c

    Silly relay races….it was hard getting a clear picture with all the movement!

    P1340446c

    Lined up for their next relay round!

    P1340450c

    Lots of giggles and fun!

    P1340488c

    They played a few fun games while they were here.  This was a favorite with the boys – Toy Story 3 Kerplunk game which they played well together!

    P1340527c

    Taking turns and helping each other!

    Slumber Party Activities

    Our living room was full of sleeping bags, pillows, blankets, and giggling kids.  It only took them a few minutes to wind down and go to sleep!

    P1340620c

    Kiddos playing with cars, trucks, planes, race tracks, and legos while Jake and I make breakfast!

    P1340631c

    Cinnamon Crumble Breakfast Cake, Scrambled Eggs with Extra Cheese, Yogurt, Pears, and Chocolate Milk for breakfast!  My sweet nephew asked my daughters several times as we were setting the table “Can we really eat the CAKE for breakfast!?”  Why not, it’s not every weekend we have a slumber party and get cinnamon breakfast cake in the morning, ha!  While he did eat his cake first that morning, he also ate most of his scrambled eggs and other goodies too!

    P1340632c

    Van full of kids!

    P1340770c

    My nephews were not sure about Karlie holding a huge snake!  Although they were a little concerned at first they did eventually pet the snake, however, they did not want to hold it!

    P1340638c

    Riding the school bus between buildings at Roper Mountain!

    P1340639c

    So excited to ride a bus!  Sometimes the little activities provide the most fun and biggest smiles!

    P1340643c

    Our troop at the Planetarium getting ready to watch the show!  The lighting in the planetarium made it hard to get a clear picture.

    P1340646c

    My nephew was amazed….all the fish swimming around in every direction.  It was almost more fun to watch his expressions and hear his comments!

    P1340653c

    Checking out the turtle!  You mean we can touch it?!

    P1340666c

    Petting the animals!

    P1340676c

    The bunny was so soft!

    P1340705c

    This one always grosses me out…..baby mice…..however, the kids love holding the baby mice!

    P1340711c

    What’s this Aunt Bridgette!?  Can I touch it!?  Lots of questions and fun exploring all the cool animals!

    P1340720C

    This was a highlight for my nephews!  They loved digging around in the sand and water creating various lakes, rivers, dams, and more!

    P1340737c

    Building another one together!

    P1340756c

    Testing the items that they built to see how many golf balls they will hold before sinking!

    P1340763c

    Saying “Hi” to the animals!

     

    P1340787c

    Checking out the  sting ray!