Around Here

I thought after April and May it would slow down....nope. Not yet. We have had a really fun week and I have been waiting to post all this.

Our splash park right across the street from our house opened last weekend. It has been non stop fun. We have even gone twice a day! We do go everyday and the girls love it. Sometimes we are the only ones there and sometimes its packed. Here are some pictures of the girls playing.

This weekend we have had a lot of family time. The week got a little crazy with one thing after another and was way too busy. We don't usually let that happen, but this week just snuck up on us that way. So we spent most of the weekend together and at home. Saturday morning Justin and I took turns jogging early and then we all washed the car together. Here is a picture of the girls helping.

So funny! They do look bored, but it wasn't for long. This was what they did while Justin vacuumed the car out. When the bubbles and water hose came out, they had a blast. They love to clean the car. We went to the pool later on and had a big dinner at home. I love Saturdays at home when they aren't busy! It was nice.

I had to keep the girls busy this week with all our time at home while Justin was gone. One day Charli and I did a mosaic art project while Chloe napped. This is how it turned out. Believe it or not, Charli did most of it. It was very kid friendly. And now it hangs in her room.

One last thing....got a funny Chloe story. I just got her out of bed from her nap and this is the conversation I had.

Chloe: Mom, I got all my booders (boogers)out."

Me: You did?

Chloe: Yes, I got all my booders out.

Me: Where did you put them?

Chloe: I put them on my blantet (blanket, the blanket I have her wrapped up in while holding it.)

Me: Ohhhh. Well that's yucky, we will have to wash the blanket.

Chloe: No! Peez leave the booders on the blantet. Peez.

Nice. Gonna have to sneak that blanket into the washing machine. After the crazy week, I just had a very nice moment. My friend Mary made me some homemade chocolate, mint, hazelnut biscotti. Its my favorite and I haven't had it in years because she lives in Grove. She brought it to me today at church. After the crazy week and very busy day, got to sit down, drink some coffee and eat that biscotti. Yum.

They are finally here...

We have finally receivced our photopass pictures from Disney World. Here are my faves! The first one is a very tired Charli on our very first day. I love that sweet little face!This is the tower of terror that Charli rode. She is still telling everyone!These next two are very cool. The photographer told us to pretend tinkerbell was in our hands and have Charli pretend she was holding baby simba. Then they added the image onto our picture. They turned out great. Chloe actually looks like she is excited to see tinkerbell and Charli did a great job pretending to hold a baby!

These two princess pictures aren't the best quality, but they are Charli's favorite. These are from our princess breakfasts.

Since we went, life is a little different. When we watch tv the girls feel like they know Handy Manny, the Einstein kids, Mickey and friends, etc.... When we grocery shop, they manage to spot ANY product with Mickey or his friends. We now have to buy Mickey noodles, Mickey carrots, Mickey pretzels, Mickey raviolis, mickey waffles.....who knew Mickey made all those products. I have never seen them before....the kids see it all now. When we rock Chloe before bedtime she now ALWAYS sings "Small World" and says "Dad! I ride that boat.....with Mimi!" It was a great experience and its fun to listen to them remember it.

Birthday Flan

This week was my birthday and I kind of strung it out over the week (which is the most fun!). Tuesday was my actual day of birth and it was really nice. Got to have lunch with a friend and then go hang out at another friends' house for a little bit. Charli had soccer practice that night, so Justin and I decided to celebrate a this weekend. We went to stay with my parents near Dallas Thursday and Friday and just got home. My parents took the fam out to dinner in a new, really cool area near there house called Watter's Creek. Its an outdoor shopping/eating mall kind of place with a creek through it. It was really pretty and had benches, walking trails, and stuff for the kids to climb on. I will definitely go back. We ate at a yummy mexican restaraunt there. To surprise me, Justin had them bring out birthday flan (which I do not like) and sing. They sang a really long and loud song (which wasn't happy birthday, but I don't know what it was) and while singing it, the guy picked up the spoon and spoon fed me some flan. It was laughing and trying not to gag at the same time. So funny.

The next day, Justin and I went on a date. We spent a few hours at IKEA making a wish list for our house and checking it all out...so fun! Then we went to dinner. We had a very fun weekend. I had a great birthday....thanks for all the cards, phone calls and presents.

Now we have made it through all the birthdays and celebrations in April and May. Whew! Charli is out of school and we are looking forward to a relaxing summer. Is that possible?? I really hope so. Charli starts real school in August and I really want to take it easy and enjoy this summer with her and Chloe. Looking forward to it.

Two Milestones

We had two major milestones in the Graves' household this weekend:

#1 - Justin ran his first half marathon on Saturday. He ran 13 miles in under two hours. Very proud of him!

#2 - We picked our first tomato I grew in my backyard from my first tomato plant.

Okay, okay, so one of the milestones is a much bigger deal than the other, but I am excited about both!

We also had a very energetic, amazing, and inspiring service at Foundations Church today (those are adjectives in which other people described service to me!). We had 14 people give their life to God today and then had 3 people take the plunge after service (aka...get baptized). To top it off, after service 3 people found me and volunteered to work with the preschoolers with me! A big wooohooo for that! It was a great weekend....had some good accomplishments, went to a very fun bday party in OKC, and had a life changing service.

Two Year Check Up

We took Chloe in for her two year old check up today. It took forever, but went really fine. Charli and Chloe "practiced" yesterday with their doctor kits. So Chloe knew what to expect and was pretty relaxed with the doc :). The doctor called her "tall and skinny." I really didn't think Chloe was going to be as tall as Charli (I guess that's because I am always comparing her to Charli), but she is off the charts above 95% like Charli in her height. She's right where Charli was at two. Man, the girls got lucky!! Good genes from their daddy's side. She had to get one shot this time as well. She cried a little and then was fine. When we got home, she couldn't walk. She doesn't say her "k" well, so this is the sentence I heard, "I wanna walt, I wanna walt." Then she would walk and say, "I tan't walt, I tan't walt." It was sad and funny! I am very happy that she's healthy too. Her ears are not a problem anymore. I am also rejoicing that she is cutting her very last molar! Woohoo! I have not enjoyed the teething process with either child. I always feel so badly for them. She's still got a little bit more to go on this last tooth, and then teething gone forever!! Now off to potty training sometime in the near (or far) future.......didn't really like it the first go around. We'll see this time!

Disney Part IV

Anybody tired of the Disney World posts yet? Don't tell me if you are :) I feel I might be going a bit overboard, but I have so many pictures that I want to share! Hopefully I can get away with only one more Disney post after this one...he he. :)

This is my Chloe and Charli post. They were so fun on the trip. Like I have said, Charli was this super brave adrenaline junky the whole trip. She was always excited and ready to go. Here are the pictures of her having fun.

Already too cool after being with big kids just one day!

Those of you that know Charli really well can definitely see that she has a crazy, outgoing edge to her that hasn't been let out before! I loved it!

Chloe spent the trip waving at EVERYTHING. It was so cute. She would have wave on rides and to characters and say "Hiiiii Mickey." Here are pictures of her waving and having fun.

This is the now infamous "drummer" dance she did in the Small World ride. Best picture I could get of the little dance. Below are my favorite pictures of Chloe and my mom. She is waving in the Lion King show.

Here she is actually being Simba with Justin.

Happy 2nd Birthday Chloe

We have had such a fun week celebrating Chloe's birthday. She is so much fun, so funny, and so unpredictable! I remember loving age 2 with Charli and am loving age 2 with Chloe as well. Two is such a fun age.

On Wednesday, our mom's group went to Chuck E Cheese and celebrated Chloe's birthday. It was so easy and a lot of fun. Chloe enjoyed it until Chuck E. tried to get to close to her. He did scoot up behind her while we were singing happy birthday and she was distracted.The cutest moment was when she tried to blow out her candles. She was very excited all week about her birthday parties and would say, "I want to blow out the fire!" So when the candles came, she blew and blew and made this cute little face below. She did it for both parties and it was adorable. Her eyes even crossed in some of the pics! It was fun and we have some great friends! Thanks everybody.

Yesterday we also had a family party. Aunt Jan made Chloe a Barney cake and the great grandparents, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles and some friends came to celebrate. Chloe was in a great mood....she was smiling A LOT at the camera. Usually she says. "no I don't wanna take a picture" when I try to take her picture. She did very well letting me snap a hundred or so pics! ha ha.

Charli was a super good big sister. She was genuinely happy to celebrate Chloe's day. You would think that was a selfless act....but no. She got to have cake, ice cream and cookies. AND Charli has totally figured out that Chloe's new toys are her new toys as well.
This is Chloe and her Bob Bob (my dad). She loves her Bob Bob and sat on the kitchen table(not at the table, on the table) with him through out the whole cake and ice cream process.

Chloe with her Nanas.

Thanks to our friends for travelling all the way to see us on Chloe's day. We can't wait to return the favor and visit for their birthdays too!

Had a nice day. I was a little sad that she's not a baby anymore, but she is at such a great stage that I am more happy than sad. She really is a beautiful little girl.

Happy Birthday Justin

I sometimes think Justin is superhuman. I often pick on him at home and call him perfect. He hates it. He's always nice, always happy, always ready to go take on the world. I love all of that about him. Of course, I know he's not perfect or superhuman, but he's one of the most positive, energetic, genuine people I know.

We spent Justin's actual birthday at Disney World and celebrated at Chef Mickey's with Mickey and all the gang. Our whole family ate dinner together and we also celebrated Gabby's birthday too (our neice).

When we got home, we also made Justin a miniature cake and Charli bought him a "boy" coloring book picked out just for him. He loathes making a big deal about his birthday....that makes it fun to do stuff for him.

Disney III - Family & Friends

Many posts still to come....today is Chloe's 2nd birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, and we celebrated Justin's bday at Disney World. So much going on right now!!

I have saved the best part about the trip to post because I have wavered between being sad and happy about this part. I needed to process a little on this. Still processing, but want to share this part. We had a party of 21 on the trip and enjoyed all these people so much. You know how sometimes the "more the merrier" isn't so merry? Well this time it was. Each person there added something to the trip. We got to hang out with some friends of the family that we rarely see and got a little closer to them. Charli got to be really good friends with these friends' children. Hopefully we will see them again sooner and more frequently now. There were 8 kids there total and mine were the youngest.....this is the reason Charli had sooo much fun and we are so grateful they were there.

My mom and Justin's parents were there too. My mom had a great time, branched out and stayed with the Graves and even rode roller coasters and rides with Stephanie all day. Woohoo go mom! When Chloe and I waited around a lot for the big kids to ride rides, my mom helped me with Chloe too. She was a huge help and the girls loved her being there! Thanks mom. It was fun to share the trip with her. Then we got to stay with the Graves our last night, which was a HUGE help as well.

AND from here on out....the names Mimi and Steph are synonomous for Justin's sister. She and her family were so great. We hardly see them because they are ministers in the Houston area and we are here. Its hard. They went above and beyond what could be imagined to make this trip speical for us. I mentioned before Steph was our personal travel guide....really she was. She made all our reservations....told us what to do, where was best, gave us little tips here and there and bought the girls TONS of stuff. She sent movies (lots) leading up to the trip for the girls to watch, she bought this pin lanyard and pins for the girls so they could experience more fun trading them at disney and not feel left out. Our trip would have been so much less without her and her family.

This is the pin lanyard thingy....it was so cool.

Also....Charli stayed with them most nights of the trip! Thank you, thank you Steph! You're the best Aunt Mimi the girls could have and they loved every minute of seeing you all. We have been talking about how sad we all are since we left because the down side of seeing people you love for a week is getting attached and missing them. Thanks for rocking Chloe to sleep, letting her scream in your ear :), playing in the park, scheduling princess breakfasts, making Charli feel loved and special, letting her snore in your room :), and much more! Charli really came out of her shell around all the kids and the Ayalas. She was a big kid for a week and really could hang! I was so impressed. She rode the tower of terror (twice so the second time I would ride with her), the everest roller coaster and just about everything she could because she was with all the big kids and the Ayalas. She just jumped right out of her shell and was so brave and excited. I have pictures of this too...coming soon. She and Chloe are still both talking about Gabby, Jaden, Nathan, Jon, Noah, Josh, Mimi, Edgar, Nana......and so on.

These are special family pics. I still have the professional ones to post in a week or so when I get them.....but for now I wanted you to see.

This is our party of 21! And it was a party! My heart is so full after this trip....really. Sounds cheesy, but its true. I had fun with each person. I do have the "magical" pictures of each of our families from our photopass cd coming so you can see the good ones soon. I wish I had more pictures of all the kids and families. Don't want to leave anyone out, but they are coming soon. And when I post some more about Charli and and Chloe I have some good pictures with my mom.

Thanks everybody! It was a blast.

Where we stayed....

Our hotel was the least spectacular part of the trip, however, it was a really cool sight to see for our 4 year old and almost 2 year old on the outside. These are pictures of our walk to our room and to the pool. We stayed at the All Star Movies Resort. So the theme for hotel was all kinds of different movies. We stayed in the Mighty Ducks part, but passed by the Dalmations area on our way to our room.

Chloe and Charli loved the dogs. Chloe was giving kisses here.

More kisses.

This was just a quick post......definitely still more to come. I must tell you about the best parts. I am holding off on that....our personal travel guide (Stephanie Ayala) who was wonderful and being with friends and family. It was so much fun!