We LOVE Emily & Doug!

For Christmas Uncle Doug and Aunt Emily, who live in Chicago, gave us a promise to visit us some time this spring. Last weekend they paid up! We spent 4 fabulous days together and were so sad when it had to end.

Playing at the park after school on Friday.

I left them all to make a quick run to the store, and this is the happy scene I found when I returned.

We had lots of fun with XBox Kinect games (Ashlyn is one mean boxer!)

All dressed up for our "Ratatouille" movie party.

"She likes the soup!"

As part of the movie party we split into 2 groups and prepared "surprise desserts".
Group 1 made Dirt Cups.

Group 2 got creative with their cinnamon rolls and formed them into "Rat Tails"
(I think Rata-tail-e was the official name).

Doug and Emily are going to have to come back again, if only for Ashlyn's awesome back massages.

They all spent a long time Sunday afternoon writing Secret Admirer notes to one another and hiding them in mysterious places.

We had planned to go swimming on Monday (Memorial Day), but rainy weather meant we had to settle for a visit to Chuck E. Cheese instead.

McKell isn't really old enough for most of the games at Chuck E. Cheese, but she found other interesting things to do while we were there.

The night before Doug & Emily left Brenna informed me that we now had 2 choices - to visit Doug and Emily lots of times, or to let them live with us. :) We sure love them!

Gymnastics Mini-Olympics

Ashlyn started gymnastics in January. She participated in an end-of-year mini-olympics last Saturday. 

She LOVED it and was a little super star. :)

Here are the videos of her routines:

BAR

BALANCE BEAM

FLOOR

This video was too big for Blogger, so here's the youtube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a0A1iUx06s&feature=youtu.be

And here's Ashlyn with her coach, Miss Jackie.

Oh, Ashlyn

I should have wondered about your odd question regarding when I was planning to use the half pound of sausage in the fridge.

Now the answer is . . . Never.

Eyes, Ears, Mouth & Nose

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOUikbiV2Eo&feature=youtu.be

Grandma, Grandpa & Easter Baskets

As was mentioned in my previous post, my parents visited us last weekend. Because they were in town the Saturday and Sunday before Easter, and because Russ was going to be out of town on Easter, we decided to ask the Easter Bunny to deliver his goods to our house 1 week early.

Ashlyn took it upon herself to craft a note to the Bunny and stick it in the mailbox.

Dear Easter Bunny - please bring our Easter stuff one week early.

So, Saturday morning when the girls awoke they found that their grandparents had arrived, AND that the Easter Bunny had visited. Double bonus!

Ashlyn was not very happy to find that growing older means the Easter Bunny hides her eggs in more difficult spots (like inside the paper towel roll). 

McKell, on the other hand, was thrilled to discover that treats would spill out of each egg she found. Her eggs had either Froot Loops or mini M&Ms. Once she found her 1st egg with M&Ms, she just ignored the cereal filled eggs and focused all her energy on the chocolate.

New spring outfits.

After all the Easter basket and egg hunting wrapped up, we walked over to the park to play.

Ashlyn has gotten really good at doing the monkey bars. It amazes me every time, because I have NEVER been able to go all the way across a set of monkey bars. 

The kids spent most of the afternoon in the backyard playing baseball - sort of.

And on Sunday we enjoyed a nice day at home.

Grandpa told Kaylee and Ashlyn one of his famous "Prince Edward and Princess Amelia" stories.

It was a wonderful weekend. :)

Shoes

My parents came to visit for the weekend. Since they were only here 2 days my girls were all pretty sad when it was time to to say good-bye and go to bed last night (my parents were leaving early this morning, so we knew the girls wouldn't be up before they departed).

After Russ and I had gone to our room to get ready for bed my Dad knocked on the door and asked if my Mom had left her church shoes in our room. We looked around but didn't see them. He said she couldn't remember where she had taken them off, but they had been looking all over and were unable to locate them. I helped him look around the house a little more but we didn't see them at all. Jokingly, I told Russ Ashlyn had probably hidden the shoes so my Mom wouldn't be able to leave.

A few minutes later my Mom came to our room and said she would just have to pack up without the shoes and, assuming we would find them some time, asked if I could bring them with me the next time I visit them in Utah (which is early May, so just a few weeks away). I couldn't believe the shoes were really missing, so I came out and started looking around again and asking my Mom questions about when and where she took them off. She had put Brenna down for a nap shortly after we returned from church so I wondered if she had taken them off in the girls' bedroom (we moved Brenna's bed into the room Kaylee and Ashlyn share temporarily so we could use Brenna's room as a guest room for my parents).

The girls were all asleep but I went into their room and crawled around on the floor looking for the shoes. I looked under bean bag chairs and around Brenna's bed, but didn't find anything. Ashlyn's bed usually has a bunch of stuff under it, but when I looked there I thought I could see a pair of shoes clear back by the wall, though they were men's shoes. I pulled them out and immediately started laughing when I discovered they belonged to my Dad. And my Mom's missing shoes were right behind them.

Crazy girl really did hide their shoes so they wouldn't be able to leave.

Spring Break and Best of the Brazos

The kids had spring break last week (March 10-14). Russ has limited vacation time each year, and we basically use it all on our big trip each summer, so we didn't have any exciting spring break travel plans.

I didn't want the kids to get too bored during the week, and I didn't want to go crazy as a result of having them all home and getting bored, so we decided to do some local exploration. Each year various businesses in the area are chosen as the "Best of the Brazos" (Brazos is the county we live in). Residents go online and vote fore their favorites in lots of different categories - fast food restaurant, cleaning service, veterinary clinic (which was won by our Bishop this year, by the way), etc. I let the girls each choose one "Best of the Brazos" food category and we visited the winners, 1 each day during their break.

Winner: SPOONS
Category: frozen yogurt

We've actually been to Spoons bunches of times, and we actually visited the week prior to Spring break, but since it won, I thought I'd include it anyway.

McKell is a moocher.

We LOVE Spoons. It's a self-serve frozen yogurt place. They have something like 15 different flavors available at any time. You grab a bowl, fill it up with whatever flavor(s) you like, and add any toppings you want. You pay based on the weight. We love it because it's yummy, but also because they give free yogurt to the kids for every report card that has all A's or all A's and 1 B. Sweet!

MONDAY

Winner: DOUBLE DAVE'S
Category: pizza

Brenna chose pizza, so we went to Double Dave's pizza buffet for lunch. The pizza was OK. Better than Cici's, which is the pizza buffet place the kids usually choose. I did really like one of their dessert pizzas, which was like pizza dough covered in cookie dough and sprinkled with mini chocolate chips. I will probably go back again just to eat that. :)

TUESDAY

Winner: Brazos Valley Pediatric Dentistry
Category: um . . . pediatric dentist, obviously

Surprisings, no one chose to explore the "best dentist", but the kids happened to have appointments Tuesday morning, and the office we visit happened to be the winner, so I thought it would only be appropriate to include it. :) I do really like the office, and the dentist we see there. None of the girls run away when I tell them we're heading to the dentist. They've all had a very positive experience thus far (even Ashlyn, who's had more than her fair share of cavities).

Winner: TASTE OF THE TROPICS

Category: smoothie

After visiting the dentist, we went over to the mall for smoothies, which was Kaylee's choice. We've been to Taste of the Tropics before (and if you've come to visit us, we've probably taken you there). These are the best smoothies we've ever had. We'll probably stay in Bryan, TX forever just because we adore these smoothies. And the prices are awesome, too. 

I wasn't about to give McKell her own cup, and she's not really into sharing with me, so I had to pull out the trusty lollipop to appease her while the girls enjoyed their smoothies.

WEDNESDAY

Winner: KOPPE BRIDGE
Category: hamburger

My pick was for the best hamburger. Russ has eaten at this place for lunch several times with co-workers, but none of the rest of us had been there. Russ always says the food is OK, but nothing too special. After experiencing it myself, I pretty much agree with him. Good burger. Decent fries. Nothing amazing though. Well, Ashlyn may tell a different story. She ordered a kid's basket with chicken fingers. Included was a cup of gravy for dipping the chicken in. Ashlyn dipped her chicken AND her fries in the gravy and ate every crumb of her food.

THURSDAY

Winner: CAKE JUNKIE

Category: cake

Thursday was Russ's dad's birthday, so we sought out the best cake shop in his honor. You can't tell from the picture, but these were jumbo cupcakes. I don't think any of the girls were able to finish theirs. As far as taste, they were good. I did really like mine, which was a banana pudding cupcake. The chocolate ones were fine, but the prices were a little too high for me to justify another visit.

FRIDAY

For our final day of adventuring, we got the very best the Brazos has to offer:

Russ! The girls really enjoy having lunch with Russ at his office. 

Then later in the day we made our final "Best of the Brazos" visit.

Winner: MARBLE SLAB CREAMERY

Category: ice cream

Ashlyn picked ice cream. It was OK. I'd pick Spoons over Marble Slab any day though, as far as frozen treats go. Brenna and Ashlyn both chose a bright blue, cotton candy flavor that really left its mark. 

I decided to let McKell get her own ice cream cone, which she definitely enjoyed.
(And isn't she ADORABLE with those baby pigtails?!)

So, that was the week. It was fun. Russ thinks I spent too much money (he's sort of a tightwad). We also went to the library and the children's museum, and the kids spent a TON of time outside (thank goodness for nice weather!!!) Here are a few more pictures:

Kaylee and Ashlyn playing with the giant chess board at the Children's Museum.

Brenna at the Children's Museum.

So fun to look out the window and see these 2 playing chess out on the front lawn.
(See, they really CAN get along sometimes.)

Brenna and McKell pushing strollers around in the cul-de-sac.
McKell LOVES being outside. Whenever she hears someone open the door she immediately asks, "(out)Side? Side?"