All said and done!

Saturday was our neighborhoods first annual Spring Fling, and if I do say so myself, it was an awesome affair! Kevin and I were contacted to help put it on by our friends in our ward, the Parkers. Since Kevin's a realtor it was some great exposure for him, which is always good.

He ended up doing alot of the brunt work, and I had the fun job of the kids games, always easy and fun to do cause kids aren't usually too picky. Kevin on the other hand had to hit the pavement and went door to door at some of our local businesses to find sponsers, since we had a $0 budget. He didn't tell me a thing, and at one of our first meetings he let us all know that he'd secured THREE bounce houses, at no cost to us. I swear, that boy was born to negotiate cause he's never afraid to ask for just a little bit more. He amazed me at all the hard work he put into this. There were so many people in the neighborhood that stepped up and volunteered to help, it was great to see everyone come together like that. (although I will say, the majority of the volunteers were from the ward, so it seemed a little like a ward party, which is always fun).

We had bounce houses, tons of food, alot of vendors and giveaways, a 5k run, and 1k kids run, (Halli did it, and did awesome!), and lots of kids games, including and easter egg hunt. The easter egg hunt was so much fun and I couldn't believe how many kids showed up to participate, but it wasn't the highlight. No, that would have been the firetruck that Kim got! It was fun for the kids to climb in and see what the inside looked like, but by far, the most fun was when they turned on the hose! It sprayed from the top of the truck and doused the kids! My kids may not have liked it, but all the others did.

All-in-all, it was a huge success, and Kevin talked to a few homeowners during the event that had considered moving because of some slightly undesirable things happening in the neighborhood. But because of this event and what will hopefully become more community involvement, and a safer place to live, they're reconsidering for now. So, now we get to relax and take a breath, and hope our sunburns go away soon!

Halli at the finish line! She did awesome and said she "only walked like three times, and ran like, about 10 or more times."

Crossing the finish line of her first race, she's gonna take after mom! Jana and Clint did such an awesome job with the races, and look at that finish line, love the balloons!

The fun bounce houses, Kevin was really proud of these.

The food, they worked so hard on this, and it turned out great.

The girls in the firetruck. Peyton was so excited to go inside.

Right as we were getting out, they blew the horn. I was in the process of taking the picture already, no I didn't stop to take a picture of her screaming, although I wouldn't put it past me.

Shooting the water in the air, this made Peyton scream even more. Halli didn't even like it, which suprised me.

Kevin was the emcee for the event, this is doing the drawings at the end. I wish I had gotten better pictures, but I was kinda busy running around.

A basketball widow...again

When Kevin and I were first married, and as he was finishing college, we moved to Durango, Colorado so he could pursue his love of basketball. When we were there, I was referred to as "the basketball widow", because of all the time the boys spent traveling.

;

While I have missed watching Kevin play, I have not missed the time apart. Lucky for me, every year at the end of march, I get to experience it all over again. Yup, with the onset of March Madness, there will be nothing else on television, and nothing happening all weekend long....except basketball of course.

l

I've known this was how it would be from the time we were dating. Kevin says that I'm the first girl to take priority over basketball for him, of course during march madness that statment may become a little fuzzy. The girls already know this about him as well, they may not understand march madness, but they know without a shadow of a doubt that their daddy LOVES his basketball. (this is his ultimate reason for him so desperately wanting a son...girls ball is just not as exciting according to him, and life would be meaningless without basketball:). Okay, I may be being a little dramatic, but seriously, if they didn't have brackets I may go insane. They're the only thing that gives me any reason to pay attention to any of the games at all, not that I know who I'm picking or if they're any good. So, if anyone is ever bored on the weekend, feel free to give me a call, I'm pretty sure I'll be ready to get out of the house....Bring on the games!

This will be the scene in our house for the next four (or is it five...don't tell kevin I don't know) weekends.

Even though we've had all girls, I think we've bought some sort of basketball toy each time I was pregnant. The girls still love to play with them.

I couldn't resist taking pictures of this cutie, dad's so proud!

Crush

Well, there's this boy...isn't that how it always starts? No, I don't think Halli is the one with the crush, (well, she has one, but we're not talking about Blake here.) No, there's a new boy in town doing his best to win her over. I thought something was up at the beginning of the school year when Halli came home with a little butterfly card. I figured they had made them in school, but it was actually given to her by a boy in her classroom, and he later gave her another on. Kevin and I thought maybe he liked her just a little, and on valentines day, it was confirmed. She came home from school with her pile of valentine notes....and one big box of chocolates, shaped like a heart. I asked her who it was from, and it was him. I asked her if he brought everyone one. Nope, just her and the teacher....hmmm. The week before spring break he gave her a necklace. Not the kind you're thinking of, it was a medal at one time, and he added a wooden cross (we've had a little talk about it.) and a charm from a coach purse. Then yesterday he gave her a drawing...a heart that said Happy Valentines Day.

He's got something going for him. If you know love languages, you'll know what I mean. I believe Halli's is words of affirmation and gifts. She loves to give things to people, especially letters. (Blake is the usual recipient of her notes.) This boy in her class totally speaks her language, and I think they've been playing together more recently, at least I hear his name at home more.

I think its cute. I love asking Halli about him, and I don't think she realizes that he has a crush on her. They talk lots and are good friends, she said that he asks her everyday if they're still friends. This little boy in her class is a cutie and very sweet, I just don't think he realizes that he's fighting an an uphill battle, seeing as how she already knows who she's gonna marry.

Success...kinda, sorta

I was all ready to do this huge post today. You see, Peyton has been potty training. Actually, she's pretty well potty trained, she's fully in underwear, even at night, and rarely has accidents anymore. That is, unless she has to go #2. She just doesn't want to sit on the toilet. She'll tell me she needs to go poopy, and we'll go sit down, and when it doesn't come out immediatly, she wants to get up and be done. This is very irritating. Especially when she gets off the toilet and no more than 2 minutes later, she's squatting and telling me she's not pooping. Then I have to run as fast as possible to try to make it in time....which we rarely do.

asdiar

Well, today after sitting on the potty numerous times, and missing my workout cause I didn't want to take her to the gym and have her poop in her pants, guess what? That's right, all ya gotta do is entice them with a HUGE lollipop, and they'll be more than happy to sit on that potty all day long! She did it! I thought we had conquered something huge! We did a dance, shouted for joy and praised Peyton all morning long. She also got to eat a HUGE lollipop and that made her day. I knew that now that she had done it once, it was all down hill from here. Now she knew that going poop on the toiled wasn't so bad.

asdfei

And then it happened. Again. Usually she only needs to go #2 once a day. Not today. Nope, she pooped in her pants, again. She was standing on the stairs, and I was making dinner and I hear this little voice, grunting out "mom, I poopy". My heart sank. It wasn't over, nope, it was a one time triumph, and guess what? It happend again after that!!! Three times in one day? who does that? Well, we'll get there someday, I know it'll happen, it did with Halli and she had a harder time than Peyton's having.

Get that sucker!

There ain't nothing better than a huge hunk of sugar!

asdfe

Oh well, that's a moms life, right? Poop and laundry. I guess I'll just have to accept it. It's a good thing these girlies are so dang cute, or I just might quit.

quiet

I don't always realize how loud it can get around here with three kiddos running around. (Okay, two run around, but that baby can get real loud even though she's just sitting). I notice the noise the most right when Halli gets home from school, and I notice an absence of it when she isn't here. Last night she had a sleepover with her grandparents, and it has been quiet and uneventful around here today. Last night was a little different as we tried to get Peyton to go to bed without her big sis, but after we chased away the monster hand on the ceiling, (the shadow that the ceiling fan cast onto the ceiling because of her nightlight), she drifted off and didn't wake up till this morning. It's been nice having Halli home for spring break. I feel like I never get to see that girl anymore, so it's been nice having her here all day, even though we're not doing anything special. We did make it to sea world though, more on that later. But it kinda makes me long for summer, the leisurely days when we don't have to get up and rush around in the morning. Of course, then there's going to be alot more noise. As long as it's good noise, I can manage, the screaming is something else entirely.

spring is in the air

I just have to post just how gorgeous the weather has been lately! (this way in august when it's sweltering outside, I can look back and say, "yup, sometimes it is nice in Houston!") We spend most of our days outside soaking up the sun and enjoying the trampoline, one of our best purchases ever! So, here are just a few, okay, maybe alot, of pictures of my girls enjoying the fresh air.

Flyin' high!

A cute picture of her newly potty-trained bum!

I just love babies in hats, and do ya notice her playing with her tooth?

I love her smile here, this is my Halli, happy and having fun.

Now I just hope it last a lot longer than it usually does, it's been so nice!

Baby Blues

It never fails. Whenever we are out, someone is bound to comment on our sweet baby girl. I like to think its because we have the most gorgeous girls ever, but in all honestly I know most babies elicit this sort of reaction. But there's been something a little different this time. Most people that approach us say she's a beautiful baby, which she is, but they almost always comment on her eyes. She really does have the most beautiful and bright blue eyes! I'm just hoping they stay that way. Peytons have, and her eyes rival Lexies in just how blue they are.

The best part about her baby blues is that, as bright as they are, you just have to smile at her and when she smiles back, they sparkle too!