Making Valentines for Daddy

On Valentine's afternoon we made valentines for Daddy. I traced a heart out for the girls and they cut out the hearts, all by themselves, on the dotted line. I was so proud of how well they stay on the line. Then, we painted there hands red and placed them on the paper so they made a heart. It turned out so cute and Daddy loved them.

Valentine's Day Party

The girls had a cute, little Valentine's Day party at school. They had a big snack, made a craft, and got goody bags.

Here's a picture of Mary Elizabeth making her craft.

Here's Mckinley smacking her heart on.

Mary Elizabeth with her finished product. So proud!

Mckinley with hers.

My attempt to get a picture of both of them with their crafts in their cute Valentine's shirt. Not so great. Well, one out of two isn't that bad. If it were baseball, I'd be in the Hall of Fame.

Burt's Big Adventure

Mckinley and Mary Elizabeth's class at preschool has a class "pet." His name is Burt. The students get to take turns taking Burt home and sharing him with their families. We got to take Burt home twice, since we are so lucky. :-) Mrs. Nancy asked us to take pictures to document Burt's stay at our house. Then, Burt journals about his adventures so that Mrs. Nancy can read them to the class the next day. We really enjoyed having Burt stay with us. It was a huge deal to my girls. I remember the first day Burt was introduced to the class. Mary Elizabeth came home crying, "I didn't get to take Burt home." I'm wondering, "Who is Burt?" Then, I read the class newsletter and it all makes sense. So, we were overjoyed the day that it was our turn! I'm so glad our last name starts with D and not W or something like that. I don't know if their little hearts would have been able to stand the wait.

Mary Elizabeth got her turn first since her name come first in the alphabet. Burt's adventures started out with lunch at our house. Mary Elizabeth had to have him ON the table during lunch.

Next, we got back in the car to take Mary Elizabeth to speech at Matt Elementary. Mary Elizabeth insisted that he ride "shot gun" and be buckled in.

Here is Burt at Matt Elementary

After speech, Burt with Mary Elizabeth to Kroger for some grocery shopping. He loved riding in the car cart with the girls.

The next day, Tuesday, Burt rode with Mary Elizabeth to pick Brandi up from the groomer.

While he was there, Burt decided to get a spa treatment from Spa Bow Wow.

Afterwards, we took Burt out to dinner at Mary Elizabeth's favorite place, Old McDonald's, aka McDonalds. He REALLY enjoyed sharing a cheeseburger (Emmie's favorite food) and french fries with Mary Elizabeth.

Burt finished the day with some sweet snuggle time with Mary Elizabeth.

On Wednesday it was Mckinley's turn to take Burt home. Mckinley ran in the door and rushed to show Burt her V Smile game. It was so cute seeing her show Burt how to play.

Next, Burt had lunch with Mckinley. She got her baby doll high chair for him, so he could eat at the table with her. Here he is trying yogurt. Yummy!

While Mary Elizabeth was at speech, we took Burt for a quick trip to the park. He enjoyed going down face first on the slide.

And, being pushed in the baby swings by Mckinley.

After we picked Mary Elizabeth up from speech, we took Brandi and Gus to the vet for their yearly shots. While we were there, the vet thought she should check Burt out since he hasn't been to the vet...ever. Mckinley listened to his heart and said it was a good teddy bear heart beat. :-)

On Thursday, Mckinley took Burt to Old Navy. Mary Elizabeth has gotten so tall, that she has grown out of all her pants for this season. So, we had to buy her some more. While we were there, Burt decided to try some jeans on himself. Unfortunately, they were too long.

Now it was Mckinley's turn to take Burt out to dinner. She took Burt to her favorite place, Burger King. She loves Burger King because they have Mac N Cheese (Kimmie's favorite food). He loved trying Mac N Cheese.

That night, Burt enjoyed slipping into his PJs and sleeping in the bed with Mckinley. It had been a long four days and he was worn out.

On Friday morning, it was time for Burt to return to school and tell the class all about his adventures with Mckinley. We were so sad to see him go. The girls were not excited about passing him off to someone else. They handled it very well though. Burt will be missed, and he's welcome in our house anytime.

Balloon Puppies

A while ago Louis bought a little balloon animals kit. He hasn't done much with it since, just a few "swords" and a pair of hats. The other day, Louis decided, out of the blue, that he was going to read up on how to make a puppy out of a balloon. Well, he did. The girls were so excited.

Here is Mary Elizabeth hugging her puppy.

Mary Elizabeth admiring her puppy. Notice that she and her daddy are both topless. It's monkey see, monkey do around here. Whenever Louis walks around without his shirt on, Mary Elizabeth strips hers off too.

Mckinley, princess Belle, showing me her balloon animal.

Mckinley introducing Gus to the new puppy in the house.

I love my sweet family.

Silly Jacket Pants

Miss Mary Elizabeth is always silly and entertaining. The other day, I told her to go upstairs and put some clothes on. This is what she came downstairs with. She had put her legs in the arm holes of the jacket. She posed and paraded around the living room. She thought she was hilarious. We of course laughed and I grabbed my camera. You can't help but laugh when Mary Elizabeth is around. She gorgeous and funny.

Riding Daddy Like a Pony

My silly girls

The girls and I are so lucky. They have a daddy that loves them, plays with them, pays them so much attention, and truly enjoys spending time with them. The other day, Mary Elizabeth got one of Louis' belts out of our room. She tied it around him and started riding him. Louis totally went with it. Before long, they were both riding him like a Horsey. I love family time like this.

Snow cones, Lite Brite, and Hi-Ho-Cheerio

During our snow weeks, we tried to find fun things to do around the house. We decided to make snow cones, REAL snow cones with REAL snow!!! We had snow cone syrup, cups, and straws left over from their birthday party, so we were go to go. They were so yummy and fun. The girls were SO excited!

Mckinley with her snow cone.

Mary Elizabeth with hers.

Later that night we got out some of our Christmas presents we hadn't played with yet. As Kate Gosselin once said, "All good moms put some Christmas presents up." He, he! While I don't agree with everything she does, I do agree with this. All the toys can be overwhelming for kids, so if you put some up and bring them out little by little it seems like something brand new and more exciting.

We played with the Lite Brite (a childhood favorite of mine) that Auntie M gave them. It was so fun!

I love how Mary Elizabeth is hugging my arm. Moments like this are my favorite.

Of course my anal husband had to organize the colors in a tackle box organizer. No mixing up the colors and storing them all in the purple bottom container ON the Lite Brite for this family.

Next, we played Hi-Ho-Cheerio that Nana Vickie gave them. I had never played this game before and it was a lot of fun. It's a great game to teach counting.