Slumber Party

Abigail crossed a rite of passage last week with her first sleepover. Her best friend Morgan spent the night with us Saturday night, and the girls had a blast!


We started off with Abigail's birthday dinner (a week early but her only chance to celebrate with Morgan) at Chuy's. Thank goodness we've progressed from Chick-fil-a and Chuck E. Cheese birthday dinners!


The girls spent the evening in princess nightgowns and pretending to get married.


Sunday morning we all headed to church, and I decided this would be a good tradition. I know Abigail loved having Morgan spend the night, but I loved having a chance to take Morgan to church with us. I want the kids' friends to always know that our family loves God and wants to share that with them.

Let's Go Shopping!

Mother's Day is almost here and I must share one of my new shopping loves if you are looking for gift ideas. Holly K Designs makes awesome jewelry and beautiful decorative wall crosses.




This set is one I gifted to Maggie that I absolutely adore! When I ordered it, I asked Holly to design a full set based on the USC logo and school colors. She did not disappoint with this necklace, bracelet, earrings and ring.


For my own birthday last month, my mother-in-law gave me this garnet wall cross. It's so cute with a textured base and bronze leather covered cross inset bordered by marbles.


Also for my birthday, my sister gave me this leopard and marble cross. I was surprised that the crosses were so large and can't wait to see them on my walls.

Not only is Holly super talented, but she's also Daniel's cousin, and I love being able to support family members who are talented. She just recently released a new large line of jewelry you can see here and here. Happy shopping!

Birthday Bonanza

This past weekend was birthdy weekend, and the celebration was so fun! As usual, we didn't have a party but just a few days of complete Abigail spoiling. I gave her a choice this year, and she still picked our usual birthday bonanza. Thank goodness! It's so much more fun to drag it out over a few days than have just a few hours of crazyness at a bowling alley or Chuck E. Cheese.


On Friday she was able to wear this birthday outfit I grabbed on Etsy a few months ago. How can you not love that adorableness?!

After a long day of big activities at school, especailly birthday cupcakes in her class, Aunt Kelly, Gran and Grandad came to celebrate with us.


Aunt Kelly made sure she had a chocolate cake, but the sparkler candles required some help to extinguish.


All things Barbie were the theme of the gifts, and she couldn't have been more excited.



She made a haul with a new Barbie doll and car and a huge Pottery Barn dollhouse on Friday night. The party carried over into Saturday morning when Daddy got home from work. For some reason, I have no pictures of that, but it was just as fun. She got plenty of new swimming gear, Tinkerbell make-up, binoculars that she had been begging for (She says she wants to be a bird watcher), and a gorgeous new bed. you may recall that we redecorated her room for her fifth birthday, but never did find a suitable headboard. This gorgeous, scrolly, white iron bedframe is perfect. And, she calls it a princess bed! What more can a pretty princess ask for?!

Rainbow Cupcakes

When I couldn't find a cute cupcake or cookie idea to use for Abigail's birthday treats in her classroom, the birthday girl came to the rescue. She found a great idea in one of my magazines and made a special request.


I took the easy way out with a boxed cake mix for the batter. Split the batter up into six smaller bowls and add food coloring.


I couldn't help but think the batter was pretty enough on its own.


The painstaking part was layering each color of batter in the baking cups without mixing the colors but still making sure they are spread out across the whole layer.


They turn out so cute, even before being iced!

Yummy buttercream icing as a cloud topping the rainbows finished the treats.


Of course, it was time consuming but seeing Abigail's eyes huge with awe Friday morning made the last night/early morning all worthwhile. I don't think this will be the last time these rainbow treats make an appearance at our home.

Abigail: Six Years Old

This has been a major year in Abigail's life. There haven't been types of family changes she's endured in previous years. There were no overseas moves. No new babies born into the family. No cross-country moves. But, I think this year was a foundation for everything to come.


She's now school-age! Abigail's kindergarten year has been amazing. I can't believe how much of a difference a school year makes. After just a few months, she became an excellent reader. Although we still read to her regularly, she has now taken on the bedtime book reading for herself. Recently, she made the leap from Fancy Nancy books to Beverly Cleary chapter books. I think this is such a huge foundation for everything else she'll learn in the following 12 years. It's been amazing to see this whole new world opened up to her through reading.


As for being a girly-girl, even that has expanded. She still loves to wear dresses, and never prefers shorts or pants. (Fortunately, we own every color of leggings and tights to keep dresses an option through colder months.) This year she moved into real earrings with her ear piercings, and she's now too big for all the dress-up clothes and jewelry. It's all real, now! That's seems impossible...

There's been so many "firsts" this year...


Her first school dance.


Her first wedding party.


Her first sleepover


Her first swim team and competitive meet


She did learn how to ride a bike with no training wheels, but she's hardly ever on it. She'll take the scooter any day over the bike!

I'm sure I'm forgetting all kinds of "firsts," because she has truly grown up so much in the past 12 months. She shows no signs of the baby I birthed six years ago. She's a full-fledged little girl!


One of my favorite changes this year has been that Abigail and Cooper have become very good friends. They are not just related, but they truly love each other, protect each other, and have a blast together. Of course, they have their moments. (She did recently ask if I would send him to an orphanage.) But overall, they have become so close. I've loved to watch this change in their relationship.

My how time flies... It's so cliche, but still so true. I can't believe how much has happened in the past six years.

At the Pool

Abigail's first swim meet was a few weeks ago, and I know I already shared videos of her heats, but I finally have some pictures to share from the meet. This meet was the final meet for the Short Course season, which takes place through the indoor pool season and only includes 50 yard pools, as opposed to the Long Course season, which begins next month at 100 yard (Olympic size) pools.

Being Abigail's first meet, she was petrified. She doesn't like to show emotion that isn't self-confident, so she hid it very well, but she was scared. When it was time for her to enter the pool deck with her teammates who were also swimming the 50 Back, I was so pleased to see (from afar) that one of the older team members noticed Abigail's fear and was holding her hand as they walked to the natatorium. Abigail later told me that the girl was trying to distract her by asking her questions like "what is your favorite color?". I must say, I don't know who the girl is, but she must be a very sweet and observant child. (I took this picture from across a parking lot so it is not a great pic. Abigail is in the black swimcap and pink goggles.)


Once she entered the pool deck, I could tell from seeing her waiting her turn on the block that she was very nervous. But, there was another child who threw up from nerves, and even other swimmers who never made it to the pool due to fear. Since Abigail was just 5 and swimming in the 8 & Under group, I was so proud of her for being so brave.




Coach Adam was so attentive to Abigail, even with such a large team at the meet, he was by Abigail's side through both of her heats. Here, he's giving her last-minute instructions and distracting her from what was going on in the natatorium.


I wish I could show you more images from the rest of the day, but she was a completely different swimmer after completing her first heat. She was filled with confidence and enjoyment, but my camera was filled with a dead battery. (Ugh... Why didn't I think to charge my battery before such an event?! Lesson learned.)

In short, I think we've found Abigail's sport. I had high hopes for her to be a softball played, but her t-ball season last year gave no inclination of that ever happening. Seeing her determination, competitive spirit and work ethic come to fruition at this meet makes me think that I'll be spending a lot of time on the pool deck in the years to come.

Giddy-Up

Last month, Abigail's friend Maddie celebrated her birthday at a local horse farm. My kids were in heaven around their friends and the animals. It was one of the first warm days we've had this spring, and I think we all enjoyed ourselves.

They started the kids off easy with a few rounds of stick horse racing.


Abigail proved she is a true city girl, but she did give a good effort at her turn with roping.


Being the true science geek, my daughter loved the equine science lesson that was the most boring part of the day, in my opinion.


But, the true highlight of the day was just hanging out with the horses.








Cooper wasn't up for riding the same horse that Abigail rode. He stuck to a different breed.


He was especailly partial to some other farm residents.


Of course, there was the usual birthday cake,


...and laughter with friends,


...and sweet Maddie.

Going Underground

Last month we had a very special visitor, MAGGIE! Probably our favorite part of South Carolina, she gets to visit a few times a year and we always enjoy it. This time, it was cool and rainy most of her time in Texas so we were quite choosy in our activities, with the outdoors not being an option.

Kelly Ann and I treated her to dinner at Alamo Drafthouse. The movie wasn't great, but I loved the drafthouse. How can you beat dinner and drinks via a waitress while you're in a movie theatre?!

Kelly Ann and a friend took Maggie to a concert at a dancehall. The old fogies stayed at home and put the kids to bed.

We also enjoyed quite a few delicious meals like salmon, shrimp and strawberry shortcake. I think Maggie was concerned she would have to endure our restaurant hiatus, but I don't think we mistreated her.

Our only toursit outing was Innerspace Caverns, a nearby underground cavern. It wasn't as spacious as Carlsbad Caverns that we grew up going to, but the stalagmites and stalagtites were still impressive.









We can't wait for Maggie's next visit! Hopefully next time the weather will allow us to stay above ground.

Put on Your Dancing Shoes

Abigail went to her first school dance Friday night. Fortunately, she was escorted by her father as it was a Daddy/Daughter Dance.


I think the idea for the night was genius as the dads were given the chance for special time with the girls and, most importantly, time to show them how a princess should be treated. Obviously, she played the part of the princess beautifully.







I heard all about the evening's events of decorating a personalized crown, laughing at the ventriloquist, enjoying tea for two at a "cafe", the dancing, and a blissful carriage.


But, she was especially excited to have her daddy all to herself for the evening