New Beginnings

We did it. We did it without crying...in front of Ava! :)

This morning Lucy woke up at 4:30am, so I tucked her in a little and went back to "sleep". She woke up again at 5:30am, so I gave her a bottle and laid down for a few minutes. Then I handed her to a "sleeping" Todd and got myself ready for the day.

At 6:30am while Lucy slept, and Todd was getting himself ready- I started Ava's bath water and she came in all smiles & being silly. I helped her wash her hair and finish her bath. She got dressed in the outfit she had picked out and we did her hair. I woke up Sydnee and got her started and Todd began making breakfast. Ava wanted her hair curly today- so we took extra special care to make it look nice. Sydnee wanted her hair exactly like Ava's. No doubt today will be a little sentimental to all of us, but particularly Sydnee- so I'm glad Todd will be working from home today to make her feel special.

Last night we began a new tradition. We'll call it 'Twas the day before school starts... We made chocolate chip cookies, drank milk/chocolate milk and played Uno. Lucy slept. :) Afterwards the girls both got their "First Day of School Book". We've been doing this for my niece Samantha since she was in Kindergarten, so it was especially fun to buy Ava & Sydnee their first books. Ava got "It's Hard To be Five" by Jamie Lee Curtis- who has a fabulous line of children's books. Sydnee got, "The Kissing Hand" which is a really tender little book about the first day of school. Usually we would also have the girls get a Father's Blessing, but we did that last week while Mark (PopPop) was here. We said our goodnights and our prayers and sent the little ones to sleep. Then Todd and I proceeded to clean the entire house to releave some of my anxiety. :)

So this morning we ate our pancakes, made by Daddy of course, took a few pictures, and then piled in the car. Ava fixed her lunch yesterday- Peanut Butter + strawberry jam sandwich cut in the shape of a tulip (Ava's choice), baked cheetos, madarin oranges, strawberry yogurt, Strawberry- Kiwi Kool Aid, and M&M cookies. For her snack she is bring Smart Popcorn.

When we got to the parking lot of the school, it was a REALLY pleasant suprise to see Preston's family drive up at the same time. We took a few pictures of them together and then headed to class. Ava was excited. Sydnee showing a few signs of confusion, and parents keeping it together. We got to the class, gave Mr. Forbis his cookie that we made him last night, and dropped off the supplies we had forgotten on Meet the Teacher night. We hung up her backpack, put her lunch on the shelf, and she sat in her spot. 2 of her new friends were sitting there already. Their job was to color while the other friends arrived- good idea, Ava loves coloring. We took one last picture and then left. I glanced a look at Todd and he was a little moist in the eyes, and so was I- but we kept walking to make sure Ava didn't see us. We are home now and Ava has been at school almost 1 hour. *Sigh*

I've been trying to prepare Ava (and myself) for months so this morning would go smoothly, and it has. Ava, being the nurturer she is, decided that she will have lots of friends and will be looking out for the kids who might be missing their mommies and daddies. She'll be terrific and I can't wait to hear all about it.

Happy first day, my sweet Ava.

Galveston, Texas, USA

Future best friends...

We are blessed with great friends. Sometime in July I e-mailed my sweet friend Mandy and asked- what about taking a mini vacation together? She said- let's do it! So we planned, made a schedule, packed our bags and headed to Galveston. Whenever I have introduced my family to the Moores I have always said how much we enjoy being around each other, our kids are the same age, we like the same things, etc...they just have one big character flaw. Note the t-shirts. Aww, we love them anyways. If we had known we would have been hijacked by t-sip t-shirts on our vacation we would have come prepared. Oh well, they got us this year. :)We began our trip by going shopping on the Strand. Bless this wagon. It was kinda fun, but we probably would skip it next time- however, the Rocky Road Chocolate Covered apple from Rocky Mountain was worth the drive for sure.
This is at the Lagoon area at Moody Gardens- very cool. We could have spent an entire day there. It was a lot of fun.
Ava & Preston have been friends since they were tiny. They are exactly 1-month apart. I have loved watching their friendship grow over the years.
This was one of my favorite parts- the 4-D movie of Happy Feet. About 15 minutes long, full of fun surprises.
Riley was deathly afraid of the walking frog- he had quite a sense of humor. He tried to get in our wagon at one point. :)
Did I mention these pictures were out of order? This was the last restaurant we went to in Galveston- Salsa's. It was awesome- everything about it. We'll return again for sure.
I LOVE this picture- my "action" shot. These $5 body boards at Wal-Mart were awesome
The best part of our vacation was spending it with friends we love and adore. We had such a great time.
Ava's turn to get buried. :)

Probably my favorite picture from the whole adventure. Love Lucy's sweet smile.
Look at those chubby cheeks- I can't help but kiss her all the time.
Rain Forest Cafe was a first for me & I loved it. The girls? They thought it was a little too realistic at times. :)
Awwww...love birds, haha

And this sums it up! We had such a great time. We can't wait till our next Moore/Blackhurst adventure!

School is coming!

I need to post vacation pictures.

Well last night's meet-the-teacher went well. Ava was really shy, which makes me worried, but she is excited despite her shyness. There were a MILLION forms to fill out, of course, and school supplies to turn in as well- since some of them are community supplies. Her teacher seems like a nice guy, and I hope he is ready for Ava. :) Ava got to also meet the Art teacher, which I'm sure will grow to love Ava- she is so artistic.

Sydnee's meet-the-teacher was a lot less eventful. We turned in our packet, met Ms. Cindy and were in and out in like 15 minutes or less- unlike the hour or so at Ava's school. Sydnee is in the Doodle Bug class- which she was initially disappointed about- but she's good now because Cindy sounds a lot like Sydnee. She told me they both have "sin" in them...hilarious. Sydnee was fairly outgoing in her classroom. So I guess my girls have switched personalities.

This morning we got up and hit the road early to beat the crowds. We got to Target just after 8am- and were there with the Target workers and a few shoppers. We got Ava some socks, and a notebook. Sydnee got new Disney undies- but don't ask her about them unless you want to see them- she even showed a lady at the store she was so excited. The big find was Sydnee finding "Baby Jaguar" shoes aka leopard print. I grabbed Todd some fun t-shirts, got a birthday present for a friend of the girls, and we made it out of there just after 9:30am. Right on schedule. We were then off to Old Navy- where I had a $10 off coupon. I got Todd a few shirts, Lucy 2 outfits, & Ava some silver converse-style shoes. She loves that they sparkle. Then we stopped in at the Children's Place where once again I had a $10 off coupon. There we found "Baby Jaguar" clothes. They were on sale- so I let her get 2 outfits and matching thingies all for around $20. Score! So the girls are officially physically ready for school. I hope to make it out to get some new sandals. The ones I have I wear all the time and they are going to fall apart soon. Wish me luck- I won't be able to beat any crowds by going tonight. I hope to take pictures later and post them. :)

Our month in picture form!

I have a new calling/service I do for my congregation- I am the Provident Living Specialist. This month I assisted several families with long-term food storage. When canning the milk last night it kinda went POOF, all over me! :) Good thing I'm wearing BLACK!

See?!

Sydnee & Ava had a Star Wars birthday party that they attended, here are their costumes...
Princess Leia hair for Sydnee...

Totally rocking the outfit I put together...

Ava as Queen Amaidalla, thus the cool hair...and queeny dress.!
(No idea on the spelling by the way...)

Todd brought us all new night gowns from Las Vegas- we all love them. Here is Sydnee sporting hers, isn't she darling? :)

My 96-year old grandfather with my girls and my sweet Dad. :)

Isn't that sweet? PawPaw was quite taken with her...

My mother, Lucy, and I all visiting the oldest relative on her side of the family, my dear sweet great Aunt Betty. We got some great family history stories from her.

My sweet growing baby girl!

This is what happens when you have 3 little girls in 1 house- a gigantic load of pink laundry.

Ponderings

MY ponder:

So do I wait until tax-free weekend to buy school supplies or just buy them now so I can make sure they are all there. Tax free weekend is the weekend before the girls start, and I like to be prepared. Please advise.

So yesterday when Todd got off work I drove to Round Rock to pick up our wards food storage order. Now my living room has sacks of wheat, oats, beans- you name it! Hopefully I can rid myself of most of it today...and the rest when I retrieve the canner/sealer.

A funny thing happened while I was gone. Todd was giving the girls a bath- together, which I totally don't do any more- and when they were done and putting their towels on, Sydnee starts screaming bloody murder. We refer to this as her "ant" cry since she is terrified of ants since she has been bitten so badly by them. Anyhow, a baby gecko had been in her towel and had jumped on her leg and then into the water. Ava, according to Todd, had a gecko on her towel as well but she didn't notice it and her gecko jumped into the bath directly. Anyhow, it made for an amusing evening. Moral of the story is- don't leave your towel in your room after bath otherwise you might find a baby gecko on our leg next time you use it!

Hope your day is swell, friends! Thanks for checking in!

Trouble

I've had my house to myself tonight...and by myself I mean myself and my 3 little girls. If you didn't know this- and how could you not- my girls are very girlie. So we watched our "dancing show" (SYTYCD) and I even let them stay up past their bedtime. Toward the end of the night Ava got in trouble for something, I can't even remember what now. Anyhow, as usual our fight escalated until she wasn't allowed out of her room for the rest of the night and she and I missed the end of the show. *Sigh* Here comes the ugly part. Ava really knows how to push my buttons, she can do it better than anyone I know. She really doesn't push other people's buttons as well as mine, my lucky gift as her mother I guess. Well she has an uncanny way of making a simple misdeed turn into a knock-down-drag-out kinda fight...not literally of course. Tonight she escalated our fight by calling me a name and telling me stuff she was "never" going to do. Fumes. I had to take a Mommy time-out to calm down because I was already mad that she did whatever she had done. I took a break, said a prayer, and then went and talked to her. She agreed that sometimes she tries to make me madder when I'm already mad. Its part victory that she recognizes this because since she knows she does it, she can also have the power to change it. Anyhow, we smoothed things over, said a prayer together, shed a few more tears, said the "I love yous" and "goodnights".

Its hard to be a grown-up sometimes.

So since I am avoiding closing up the house and my putting the house and myself to bed, I thought I would look over some old blog posts. So I went to 2007, when we started this blog. It's hard to believe that my little girls were even smaller not so long ago. Then I came across this entry Here and I had to smile. I love the way I close the post. Telling, isn't it?

I love that little curly-haired blue-eyed girl. I need to remember she's only 5. I can do better too. Here's to better nights with a little less trouble and a lot more fun with my sweet little trouble-maker.

Our week!

Ava's Fashion Show of some of her new school clothes-

matching socks! ;)

Good thing she's not silly...

Cool backpack...

I got Sydnee something too :)

AND I did some canning! Ignore the goofy faces and concentrate on those fabulous containers!

Lastly- Lucy's started rice cereal...she is so excited about it. :)

and that's been our week!