I HEART FOUNDATIONS

Just got back from a g-r-e-a-t Foundations Church ladies night out to Los Cabos. Thanks ladies for making it fun!! I came home to boxes full of these awesommmmmmmme shirts! I am so excited to have them. They are on sale now........we will have them at church Sunday! Woohoo!

Aren't they fun...

The girls have been so much fun lately and I wanted to share it. I think school has made Charli more fun at home because she's not bored when she's here anymore. She always got bored in the afternoons, so we have solved that problem (for now!). She and Chloe have been playing so well together since she's been in school too. Its like they miss each other. We were going through all of Charli's 2T fall clothes for Chloe and found Charli's smaller dress up clothes. O MY...that went over well. So now Chloe has her own little, tiny Cinderella dress to go with Charli's big girl one. They turned on "ballerina" music the other night and twirled and danced for over an hour. Too fun. Couldn't get any dancing shots with my camera....too blurry. I had to make them stop twirling periodically to get pics. One very sweet moment of my day......

When Charli came home from school today, she sat on the couch and we had this conversation.

Me: "I'm gonna give you an 'I miss you kiss.' Then I gave her a very loud kiss on the cheek. Then I said, "I am so happy you love school, but I do miss you when you're gone."

Charli: She hugged me real tight and said, "Mom, I love you even more than school."

Ooooooohhhhh. That just made my day. :) Big smiles from me.One last thing....today my neice, Gabby, is celebrating a very important milestone in her life. I am so proud of her. Wish we could be there. To Gabs....we love you and are so proud of you!!

Beautiful Day

Today is a beautiful fall-like day. We took today as our family day because Justin's weekend is really busy. We got up early in the thunderstorms and went to breakfast to our favorite place.  Charli always gets blueberry pancakes, eggs and fresh-squeezed orange juice. This morning she made me try the orange juice and said, "Mommy, I think you should squeeze our orange juice at home for me so it tastes this yummy." Really Charli? Of course she does!!  It was cute.  It was so nice to sit outside and eat breakfast with the thunder rumbling in the background.  I love cool, thunderstorm-y days.  Clouds are still covering right now, but no rain. I find myself sitting here on the porch, watching the clock and counting the minutes til Charli gets home. Everyone asks, "are you enjoying your time alone in the afternoons while Chloe naps?"  In theory I am, but mostly just waiting on my Charli to get home.  :)

My Two New Favorite Things

My two new faves are.....

1-When I pull up to Charli's school they have a drop of system so you don't have to get out of the car. I just pull up and the teacher gets Charli out of the car. My favorite part is when Charli says, "Mom can I unbuckle really quick and give you a hug and a kiss before my teacher gets me out?" Then she unbuckles very hurridly (like she's going to miss out on hugging me) and jumps in the front to give me a big ole hug and kiss. Makes me very happy.

2-When rocking Chloe before a nap or bedtime, she asks me to sing "God is so good." While I sing, she sings with me (in her very loud Chloe voice),

"God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He's so good to me.
He answers prayer, He answers prayer, He answers prayer, He's so good to me.
I love Him so, I love Him so, I love Him so, He's so good to me."

Sooooo precious.

A Big Day

I just dropped Charli off at her first day of Pre-K. She was so happy and so excited. I had mentally prepared myself and was ready for this day. She has been so bored at home and really wants to go to school. I was happy for her, but have to admit there was a sad, empty feeling as I she left me and walked into the school. Sigh. She's my baby and now she's a big girl. As she walked off, Chloe said sadly, "Bye-bye Charli." Awwww, so sad!! It was a good moment, a good day....just a little hard for mama. I'm okay with it now because its only half-day.....I can't imagine her being gone all day! Next year will be harder. So here's my cutie-pie ready for her first day.

Full of Fun

This weekend was vey fun filled and busy. I got to have a girls' night and go to dinner with some friends and then to see Wicked. I have seen it before with Justin, but had forgotten how GREAT it is! I loved it. I love being with friends I don't get to see much as well. We had a great time. Some of the friends hung out the whole weekend here with us. Guys got to golf and us girls took the kiddos swimming. Ate pizza and cookies (personal favorites of mine that don't come around often enough!) We really had a great time and I loved it. The kids played so well together and got to sleep in the playroom together. We all went to church Sunday together. I got to attend service this week and had a break from teaching. I DO LOVE teaching those cute little preschoolers, but service was fantastic. I really enjoy worshipping with our church family and hearing Justin live (instead of on podcast all the time). The canvas series is going to be really interesting. It was so creative to have Cameron painting during the sermon. Loved it.

Backstage after Wicked. We got to meet the girl who played Elpheba (wicked witch of the west).

The only picture I got of the bowling....

After church we headed to our community group for bowling and a McAllisters. My camera died right when we got there, so only got two pics. I am thankful for my community group. We have a great group of friends and we always have a good time together. After dinner, we came home for some family time and rest. Here is Chloe cheesing it up in Charli's bed. She's always doing something to make herself and us laugh.

A little brother?

Did I make anyone nervous with the title yet? NO, I am not pregnant, but Chloe wants a little brother. She has now claimed one of her babydolls as her "little brudda." She carries him around, hugs him, plays with him, even takes him in the car. She keeps telling me its her "little brudda." Soooo cute. I have to admit I am a little sad she won't ever have a little brother because she would be one fiercely wonderful big sister!

We are going to have a very fun weekend. I get to have a girls' night out and see "wicked" with some friends. Then we are having friends stay the weekend as well. I love fun-filled weekends and can't wait.

Also, one small detail about Sunday....we finally got our much needed diaper bag tags for the children's ministry....a month later after I ordered them. I know its not an exciting detail, but iI am actually pretty pumped about it! If you have a diaper bag that you drop off in the nursery or two year old class, please grab a tag Sunday!!

Fun Times

We had a very fun and full weekend. To start off my parents came into town on Friday and part of Saturday. They totally drove four hours just to babysit for us Friday night. Yay for grandparents!! My mom came bearing gifts....new panties for the girls. Usually wouldn't blog about undergarments, but it was a milestone for Chloe. She got her first pair of big girl panties...Elmo panties at that. AND, she is definitely a GRAVES, because the first thing she did when she got em out of the package was put them on her HEAD. Such a funny kid :)

So the girls got to have Bob Bob and Nana time. My dad (Bob Bob) told Chloe as she went to bed (because she was crying her eyes out not to go to bed) that she could wake up early and get him up. WELL.....she woke up at 6 am Saturday morning crying, "I need to wake Bob Bob up." Thanks for that one dad. Six is too early for Saturday!! It was a really nice day though, so we were out walking and playing at the park by 8-ish. Sometimes it feels like I have been up for hours and hours and done all you can do in a day by noon!

Sunday was good too. Had 12 kiddos in my class, which was fun, but lively!! And Chloe chose to cry in her class until the teachers had to come get me, so I had Chloe in my class too. It worked out okay, but lets just hope she doesn't think this is a new trend. She's pretty stubborn.....I am thinking, "poor two year old teachers if we have to break this new pattern!!" After church, a long time friend and our summer church intern, Johnny, came over for dinner and discussion. Johnny was in our youth group and I feel like I raised him....but I think about 15 people feel like they raised him!! He's really good with kids and has tried all summer to get my kids to like him. They won't speak to him at church. I kept telling him to just come over and play and they will warm up. WELL...by the end of the night he was reading stories to them and they were begging him to play soccer, tball, etc. It was nice.

Having a good Monday now. Had lots of errands and stuff to do this morning and planned to go swimming after lunch. Got the kids all excited about it and then remembered...............pool is closed on Mondays. BIG BUMMER. Tried to make it up to them and ended up at the splash park with friends. Still had lots of fun. Friends always make it better.

Now its time for a "lemonade party." Charli always has big plans for me during Chloe's nap. Last week we had a real tea party with china and all. She decided she does not like real hot tea, so she's requesting a lemonade party this time. I am off to get the china, the crackers, and the lemonade. It will be fun. She starts school very soon in the afternoons...trying to soak up my Charli time.
Looking forward to this week! Gonna be a very busy week, but filled with fun things to do!