Why I Love My Girls

I love the random things my girls do, say, and wear. Here are a few examples:

Channing does...
She loves collecting pieces of paper, brochures, comment cards, receipts, credit card applications from stores, basically anything that she can use as directions, instructions, an invitation to a special party or a treasure map. I love that she does this. She will find something and carry it around for days. I've posted this picture before but notice what she has in her hand. It's a comment card from Kohls.

Channing Says...
Prayer by Channing: Dear Heavenly Father, We're thankful for our day and our breakfast. Please bless it that it will be healthy for our bodies, well...not the Marshmellow Mateys because they have a lot of sugar in them.

Prayer by Channing: Dear Heavenly Father, We're grateful that we have a nice home to live in so we don't have to live, like outside or at the zoo.

Channing Wears...

My Little Rock Star:

Mail Lady Channing and her helper Chloe:

Girls In Boots:

Chloe Does...
Chloe went through a phase where she licked everything. I am so amazed she wasn't sick all the time. I wrote down a few of the things I witnessed her lick. Who knows what else there was that I never saw?
1. Ryan's IPOD
2. Kitchen floor (it wasn't even freshly mopped)
3. Channing's tap shoe
4. The carpet(I bet that was a sad surprise, a mouth full of fuzz)
5. The entire lenghth of my arm(she's quick, she got all the way up my arm before I could pull it away)
6. Ryan's hand
7. The hairy part of the hair brush
8. Channing's arm(what's with the arms?)
9. Bottom of her own shoe
10. Wal-Mart grocery cart(The worst of all in my book. What is it about Wal-mart carts that make me cringe to touch them and she LICKED it.)
11. Brand new computer monitor. Story: We bought a new computer and Ryan was taking it out of the box and checking to see that all the parts were there. He walked out of the room for a minute and came back to this:



Chloe says...

The girls got balloons at the store and were playing with them in my room. Chloe let hers go and it floated right into the fan. It made a horrible thumping sound as it was getting whipped around and tangled up. There was a small freakout by both girls and then I saw Chloe on her knees: Dear Henly-a-Father, please bless my balloon doesn't get windy in the fan.

Chloe wears...

Her favorite socks:

My goggle-eyed ballerina:

Weekend in Atlanta

I flew to Atlanta last weekend to be there for my nephew's baptism. My brother who was on a mission in North Carolina was coming home that same weekend so he flew to Atlanta to be there with us all. It was a GREAT few days.

Here we are at the airport waiting for Michael to arrive. 3 of my sisters were there, my parents, and of course my sister and her kids who live in Atlanta.
He was really surprised when he saw us all. He was only expecting my parents and Tiffany to be there. We had a great day eating, shopping, and hanging out.

Corbin was baptized on Saturday. He was really excited. I was glad I could be there for his special day.

Channing and Chloe had so much fun with daddy while I was gone. They played in the pool, went to the movies, ate out for dinner, and had a fun day at Grandma and Papa's. I'm not sure how much they really missed me. Ryan had the house all clean and the girls bathed and ready for church when I got home Sunday morning. Everything went smoothly, well almost...

On one of their excursions there was an incident that involed pizza, Chloe, and a chair. The result was this nice black eye.
I am thankful for a wonderful husband who was willing, and loved being Mr. Mom for a few days.

A Week In The Life Of...

MONDAY:
Memorial Day when I was growing up was a day for us kids to spend with grandpa and grandma. We would decorate graves of great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, and cousins we never met. We would hear the story about the aunt who died giving birth to twins. The babies also died and she is buried with one in each arm. After deorating the graves and hearing all the stories we would finish the day with a special treat at the store. I love my memories of this special day with my grandparents.
Ryan and I took the girls to a local cemetary to let them see what people do on Memorial Day. We each told them a story of our grandparents. It was a nice morning.


TUESDAY:
Chloe finished her swimming lessons today. She took swimming lessons from one of my young women and did great. It took her a little while to want to do it, but once she realized it was fun and not torture, she loved it. This is her jumping and swimming at our pool:




WEDNESDAY:
The girls had dentist appointments today. They did great. Channing has been several times and actually looks forward to her visits. This was Chloe's first time. She looked so tiny sitting in the big dental chair. She was a big girl and the hygienist was able to clean her teeth without any resistance. She even let the dentist count her teeth. The best part of course was the new toothbrush and the goody bag full of toys.



THURSDAY:

We had school at our house today. We were learning about spiders so I took the kids outside on a spider hunt. Chloe was screaming that she found a lizard and this is what we saw.

I'm not sure what it is, so if anyone knows, fill me in. It was about 4-5 inches long. I had a jar and I wanted to catch it so we could get a good look at it. As I was trying to catch it, it sprayed some milky substance all over in the jar. The kids and I all looked inside and got the most horrific wiff of nasty I have ever smelled. It stung my throat and all the kids' eyes were watering. Not the most successsful spider hunt.

Channing is on a swim team this year and is really enjoying it. She had a practice swim meet today. Her first real meet is in one week. It's cute to see these little kids jumping at the sound of the horn and racing to the other end of the pool. My camera only had room for a small video so here she is swimming. She is in the second lane from the right. The first time you watch it, watch Channing and then watch it again and pay attention the little girl on the far right...so cute!

FLASHBACK FRIDAY:

I realize now that I don't have as many baby vidoes of Chloe. I guess it's that whole 2nd child thing.

Flashback Friday

Channing 23mo. Chloe 5 weeks.

Channing was such a big helper with Chloe when she was a baby. She loved having a little sister around.

Wonderful Weekend

We had a great weekend at the lake house. Ryan's sister Hayley and family were here from California. The girls had a lot of fun with Carter, who is 3, and they loved playing "mom" to Nolan, who is 7mo.


We took the kids on a fishing trip and after about one cast they were done and wanted to know where the snacks were. Thank goodness Grandma came through with snacks and drinks.



They found a little tiny turtle that was about the size of a silver dollar. Ryan was able to catch it for them and they were all so excited. That poor turtle was carted around ALL day. They made him a home in a bucket with some grass, sticks and water. They named him, Turtle. Channing said she checked on him 3 times during dinner to make sure he was safe. When we finally coaxed them into letting him go, Chloe cried. I tried telling her he had to go back to it's mommy and daddy and she said, "But I love him so much." I have to say, it was a cute little guy.

Chloe's holding the turtle inside the shovel: I try to be very careful about keeping sunscreen on the girls. I'm glad Chloe is learning the importance of getting a GOOD amount on her skin.

We had a wonderful, relaxing weekend away and want to say thank you to Papa and Grandma for having such a fun place for us to go and play.

Flashback Friday

I've had a lot of fun the last couple of days sorting through older pictures and videos on the computer. I came across a lot of fun videos of the girls and I decided I'm going to start something called "flashback friday." Each Friday I will post a picture or video of the girls when they were younger. This will also help me get into the habit of posting something on a more regular basis. So here is the video for this week. This is Channing at 15months:

Simple Things

I love that kids appreciate the simple things. It usually doesn't take much to make a child happy. This video is a great example. Listen to Chloe laughing.


The Simple Things my girls love:
1. Eating lunch outside
2. Helping me water the flowers
3. Going to the park
4. Snack Time
5. Family Home Evening
6. ANY family activity!
7. Their neighbor friends, Mallory and Samantha
8. Movie and popcorn night
9. Lip stuff (chapstick, lip gloss, etc.)
10. Sugar cereal on Saturday morning
11. Walking to the gas station for a treat!!!
12. Receiving fun holiday boxes from Grandma & Grandpa Stream
13. Going to young women's with me
14. Playing at Grandma & Papa's house
15. Dressing up and dancing around while I play the piano
16. Daddy honking his car horn to let us know he's home

What are some of the simple things your kids love?