Steve's Birthday!

Saturday was Steve's 36th birthday.


We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast---his favorite! Then we took him out to eat at Chili's for lunch---with a chocolate molten for dessert (of course). We stopped by Academy so he could spend some birthday money. Then we came home to open presents---and watch football. We ended the night with dinner at a friend's house. A very full birthday!


The girls had fun making and buying him birthday gifts and decorations. Here's a birthday banner they made together---Hannah drew the letters and punched the holes, and Chloe threaded the ribbon.
I took the girls to the Dollar Tree to let them "shop" for daddy. They came up with a "birthday boy" ribbon for him to wear, a "Happy Birthday" Sign for the yard, helium balloons, a thermometer (for the back porch), and an ice cream scoop. Kind of funny!

We designed a scavenger hunt for him. He had to follow the clues around the house to find his presents. The girls got a kick out of this one---we hid one of his presents under the kitchen table!

The day before his birthday, his favorite morning hang-out place closed---his beloved Starbucks. The manager pulled him aside and told him to take home two boxes worth of merchandise. Here's what all he found in one of the boxes (this is only HALF of what they gave him!) He was definitely a happy camper! We've donated an entire box of mugs to the college cafe at the church---they have the Starbucks look going on in there. We gave away a few of the other mugs---and plan to use the rest as presents for Christmas---to hold Starbucks coffee or gift cards to give to all of the church staff and secretaries (and the girls' teachers too).
Definitely random---but fun!

First Haircut!

We put it off long enough...Chloe finally got her first haircut last week!
Here she is sitting in Mrs. Ashley's chair. She was such a big girl.

Here's the new 'do! The back looks thicker (it's not straggly anymore) AND
it still curls up when it's wet! Yay, we didn't lose the curl!!

Fall means Pep Rallys!

Each Friday, Chloe and I (and sometimes Daddy, too) go to Hannah's school for the weekly Pep Rally! Here's a picture of Hannah and her "big sis" Mary (and Elise, a pre-k "lil sis"). Each elementary girl is assigned to a "big sis" in the middle school or high school cheer/dance squad. They get to see each other each week at the pep rally. This particular pep rally was "western" themed.

A picture of the "sisters" smiling together at the pep rally! Too cute...

At this pep rally, Hannah was chosen (along with Grant sitting beside her) to present a picture they drew for the Homecoming Queen. They had to dress up---and hold hands down the red carpet---to present their pictures to the Queen! Hannah was so excited.

Caught her!

It got really quiet, really fast a few nights ago at bedtime. It was a school night, and Hannah was fast asleep. When I went to check on the girls before heading to bed, I found Chloe asleep on the floor of their bedroom, surrounded by pillows and blankets---the remnants of a tent she built herself---when she was supposed to be in bed sleeping! Hard to see in the pic's---guess you just had to be there...she even had walls (pillows) standing up. Not bad for a 2-year old.

First Day of School...for Chloe!

In September, Chloe began her second year of Mother's Day Out at our church. Two days a week, she goes to church for a few hours to play, eat, learn letters and numbers, and nap.
Here she is posing with her nap mat and "pack-pack." :-)
She's so excited to be going to "school" like sissy!

August Camping Trip!

At the end of August, we celebrated Uncle Mike's 30th birthday with an overnight camp-out at Tyler State Park (roughly half-way between Dallas and Monroe).

We cooked all of our food (hotdogs here) over the campfire!

And we rented a paddle boat and canoe. Very fun!
Hannah even paddled the canoe around the lake with Uncle Mike.
We had to hang onto Chloe (literally)---her favorite thing to do on the paddle boat
was to sit on the VERY edge of the back platform and put her
barefeet in the water---We almost lost her once...(that's what life jackets are for!)

The girls (and grandma) had a blast on the playground!

What a fun weekend. It made me realize how much I miss camping. Thankfully, the girls are now big enough for us to be able to camp more often---and enjoy it!

First Day of School...First Grade!

Here's the big first-grader on her first day of school on August 19th.

Here's the sisters posing together. Chloe missed her big sister quite a bit during the first few days back to school.