fun family fourth :: 4th of july.

july 4th fell on a wednesday this year, and since jason was off, it was a very welcomed break in the middle of the week. we decided to take advantage of the free day and pack up the explorer to head to the fort worth zoo. the fort worth zoo happens to have 1/2 price admission days on wednesdays, so it was a perfect treat! ;)

our original plan was to head out early so we could make it to the zoo when it opened to beat the heat. but, as is usual for our little family, that didn't happen. we had a nice morning and didn't rush, which was nice and stress-free. :) my mom got the girls some precious 4th of july outfits from gymboree, including sweet stars & stripes dresses and matching red cowgirl hats & boots! {the girls haven't taken them off yet!}

we stopped at chili's on our way for lunch, where the girls got lots of attention for their unbelievable cuteness. :) it was at chili's that i made a life-changing discovery... emma kate asked for broccoli as her side dish for lunch. broccoli. apparently, my 5-year-old has a love for something super green and healthy! (i'd like to say it's because i'm mom of the year and serve her broccoli all the time, but i'm actually not really sure where this came from... maybe her veggie-love will rub off on her daddy...)

the zoo was relatively busy, but not crazy. we really enjoyed all the exhibits. i especially loved watching the chimpanzees! they're such amazing creatures... really move around and behave like furry humans. :) there was a momma chimp with a new baby, and it was so neat to see how the mother-child relationship is so universal across not only cultures, but also species! i know it's small, but i tried to capture some of our moments with the chimps in this video:

i tried really hard to get some sweet pictures of the girls in their outfits, but none of them really turned out as great as i'd hoped. :) here are some pics from our day at the zoo:

rylie girl before leaving
{please excuse my messy bedroom floor}

our pretty cool ride. :) 

heading into the zoo
rylie already needs a nap. awesome. 

silly & sleepy

checking out the rhino

rylie was so interested in all the animals :)

me & my girl

me & my baby girl {still sleepy}

big daddy gorilla

looking at the gorillas

more interested in the gorillas than in
taking pictures for mommy :)

sign of a fun day :)

love this picture. and this girl. :)

once we got home from the zoo {very hot & very tired} we all took nice long naps. it took some convincing, but jason finally agreed to join us for fireworks at night. (i know it's crazy, but my husband sadly does not get excited about any holiday or the traditional festivities that most people enjoy... so i had to remind him of all the amazing memories he'd be giving to our girls. luckily, he's a really good daddy, so he tagged along!) :) i wanted to join the masses for mckinney's red white & boom in craig ranch, but my husband is {sometimes} smarter than me, so we parked a few miles away, where we could still see the show, but had a quick route out so we wouldn't get stuck in traffic. this was the first year we did fireworks with rylie, and she was really excited. a local radio station was playing music synchronized to the fireworks show, so we turned that up and tailgated in our explorer with lots of other {smart} mckinney residents.

my sweet family waiting for fireworks
{jason, as you can see, is thrilled.}

there is just something about fireworks celebrating our nation that i love. maybe its the tradition... the idea that americans have been gathering every year in july to watch fire and lights in the sky for hundreds of years. that in that moment, we are gathered together, and we are one... all celebrating and being thankful for the same freedom. it's beautiful. it's something i am proud to be a part of. thankful to be a part of. this freedom we are so blessed to have... freedom as americans, and freedom in Christ. i pray my children will grow to understand the price paid for both of these freedoms, and to be eternal grateful and thankful enough to live full in that Freedom.

happy fourth. :)

may you live each day, fully in the Freedom that has been given to you.

birthday tradition.

this time, last year, i began a new birthday tradition for my girls.

i guess it really began with emma's 2nd birthday in 2008, when i ordered her a birthday shirt with a big, cute "2" on it. i did the same for her 3rd birthday, and then her 4th, and it was when i received that shirt that i realized i was completely capable of making one just as cute!

when rylie's 1st birthday came around 8 months later, i got to work on a super cute "1" shirt that tied in with the "pinwheels & sunshine" theme i had going for her party. i equipped myself with some fabric scraps from hobby lobby, a white t-shirt from target, an embroidery hoop, needles & embroidery floss and got to work... not sure exactly what would come of my endeavor.

i was extremely excited when several hours of cutting fabric and hand stitching turned into this:

rylie's "sunshine & pinwheels" 1st birthday shirt

emma was so tickled by the shirt, that she asked me to make her one for HER birthday (as if i wasn't already planning exactly that)! :)

so, when october rolled around, i stayed up 'til 4am on a school night so my sweet girl would have her very own birthday shirt to wear to school on the day she turned 5 years old. :) i came up with something to match the "alice in wonderland"/"mad-hatter" tea party theme.

emma's "mad-hatter tea party" 5th birthday shirt

my sweet girl on her 5th birthday
{can we pause on 5-years-old? please?}

i decided on that day, that i would make a birthday shirt for my girls every. single. year. {until they beg me to stop!} my hope is to one day combine each numbered birthday shirt to make a t-shirt quilt for each of my daughters... so they'll have a snuggly reminder of all the love and hard work i hand-stitched each year for their fun special-day memories. :)

and, of course, last week, i stayed up until 5am on the 2nd birthday of my youngest little. rylie is in love with elmo at the moment, so her party was all girly elmo fun... and her birthday shirt had to match! :)

rylie's "girlie elmo" 2nd birthday shirt
{in progress}

"all done!" ...as rylie would say :)
everything is handstitched... i guess the
small imperfections give it character, right? :)

rylie was super excited about her "mo-mo" shirt, and looked super cute in it all day long on her 2nd birthday. the best part? when we were leaving her nonna's house, after cake & presents, i told rylie to lift her arms so i could take off her shirt and get her jammies on. she very emphatically told me, "no, mama!! no! want mo-mo shirt!" 

she didn't want to take it off. :) and who am i to argue with the birthday girl?? 

so she slept in it. 

sweet "baby" girl... all birthday-ed out. :)

she has no idea how happy that made my heart. i absolutely love that my girls enjoy the things i make for them. hopefully one day they'll understand how much love went into the creativity and labor behind the making of those special things. :) until then, this mommy will continue to create and hand-stitch and craft and paint and bake and whatever-else lovely things that i think my littles will enjoy, just to show them how much i love them. :) 

but this tradition... i think it'll be one of my faves. i hope my girls will adore it as much as i do. :)

new year's 2012 card.

Sparkle And Shine New Year's Card

Browse Christmas invitations and holiday cards by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

thankful.19

we spent the last day (and a half) driving to destin, florida to spend a week's vacation for thanksgiving! we are here safely, so i'm thankful for that!

our "home" for the week in destin
{taken last night when we finally arrived around 10:30 pm}

the girls did relatively well in the car. we had our moments with rylie - a very long trip for such a tiny girl - but all in all it was a really good drive.

jason and i were talking about how much we enjoyed the trip with our little family. even though it was long and tiring, we had some really sweet moments with the girls. we stopped friday night for dinner in canton, texas at dairy palace. this is a place very near and dear to our hearts. i grew up stopping at dairy palace every time we were on our way to pine cove (an amazingly fun christian camp) in tyler. as jason joined my world and my group of friends, he learned about the love for dairy palace on trips to do work crew at pine cove with our 20s group at church. we couldn't drive through canton and not stop at dairy palace. even though we really didn't have time for it, we were so glad we did.

we had the most fun, sweet time with our girls. everyone was happy, and obeying (!!), and giggling, and being silly. it was one of those moments i just wanted to suspend and hold onto for a bit longer.

i am so thankful for my family. i love that we can be so silly together and that we really enjoy each other. i hope the girls continue to think we're lots of fun as they grow up. :)

{and i am VERY thankful for our first day of vacation today... can't wait for the fun i know this next week will bring!}

thankful.17

{i started this post actually ON the 17th, and then got distracted... so it's a few days late.}


today {november 17th} is my (not so) little brother's 25th birthday. i can't believe we're "this old" already. it seems both like just yesterday, and like worlds away, when we were running around the neighborhood playing "war" with our neighbor-friends. :)

i am so proud of the man my brother has become.

he is a terrific husband to my sister-in-law, katie. he showers her with love, affection, gifts, and praise. i love watching him love her. :)

he serves others well as a firefighter. he takes care of me by mowing our yard randomly, just because, or helping jason fix my car or random things around the house.

he is a great friend and confidant to my husband. jason loves him so much, and i love how much fun they have together and how much they trust each other. i have so enjoyed the last few years as our relationship has evolved into a true friendship instead of simply "siblings."

and, he is an amazing uncle to my girls. emma and rylie LOVE their uncle cory. he is gentle with them, but firm, and oh-so-much-fun. emma knows when uncle cory comes around that he will chase her, throw her, spin her and give her as many piggy-back rides as she wants! and he loves them so much. i love seeing him in a new light as the only uncle to my girls. watching him with them, i can't wait to see him become a daddy someday. i know he will be wonderful.

emma with uncle cory & aunt katie
at her "alice in wonderland" 5th birthday party

happy birthday, cory jeff! i love you so much, and i am so very thankful for you.

catching up :: june 2011 :: videos.

note: this entry was written in july 2012, in an effort to finally update this little blog on the missing year or two of our lives, while i was so busy starting my new teaching career. :)

i found several videos in my iPhoto, and i realized i wanted to remember my girls at this age... not only how they looked, how little they were, their sweet smiles... but also their giggles, the way their voices sound so tiny, the way rylie toddled around on her just-learned-to-walk legs. :)

here's a little peek at these sweet little lives, only one year ago. :)

emma got to go with her nonna and grampa to fort meyer beach {i think}, florida last summer for about a week. she got lots of sand and pool time. these are some of the sweet videos donna sent us so we wouldn't miss our girl so unbearably:

rylie, on {or around} her 1st birthday:

this little gem was discovered on my phone. i wasn't present during the writing of this song or the making of this video {hehe!}:

{"jesus, please, i love you..." yes.}

we spent lots of time at area splash parks with friends. on this particular day, rylie was not super interested in being in the water. she kept wandering off the pad, and i had to chase her down several times. :) i just love watching her little toddler walking... she's grown so much since then:

catching up :: june 2011.

note: this entry was written in july 2012, in an effort to finally update this little blog on the missing year or two of our lives, while i was so busy starting my new teaching career. :)

the month of june just flew by. i was thrilled to be home with my girls, just being wife and mommy for the first time in my life. :) it's hard to feel completely settled and secure in something, fully knowing that it won't last. i struggled a lot last summer knowing that it was ending so quickly. i kept a mental note of how many weeks were left, and it just made me so sad "watching" it slip away.

this summer, i've tried to be better about that and just enjoy the time i have home with my girlies.

looking back at these pictures from last year makes my heart happy. we did have a fun time. :) it's good to remember the sweet moments. it helps me remember how blessed i really am. :)

end of the year gift for emma's teacher

end of the year gift for emma's teacher

emma on her florida trip with nonna & grampa

emma met this friend at the hotel in florida. they
became fast friends & even pen pals! :)

emma's dolphin necklace

silly girl :)

my little sassafras :)

now that's what i call an ice cream cone. :)

bathing beauty

sweet sisters

emma pushed ry around in this doll stroller all summer

while i was folding laundry on the couch... two little stowaways :)

this was rylie's morning routine :)

rylie's first really big owie :(

sweet girl fell in love with this hat.
so, of course, daddy bought it for her. :)

sweet ry at the splash park
{what's fun, is she can still wear this suit this summer!!}

catching water :)

so excited to play with the macs at the apple store :)

emma loves playing at the apple store

fun family date on the carousel :)

daddy & his little girl

mommy & ry waiting for our turn on the carousel

mommy's going a  little overkill on the kisses, i guess...

emma was SO excited about this cupcake shoppe they
were building at stonebriar mall... we haven't been yet,
but we definitely need to check it out -
so pink & princessy! :) reminds me of cinderella. :)

{taken from my rearview mirror}
loved looking back and seeing these little feet
enjoying the summer breeze :)

she was so proud that she "snuggled rylie to sleep." 

they love each other so much. :)

bathtime fun. :)

jason surprised me by sticking sweet love notes in
random spots around the house. it was a great way
to communicate our love & appreciate for each other. :)

i was excited to finally get my dishes into my cabinet!
i got all these beautiful white dishes for christmas & it
took me 6 months to finally get them unpacked and
put away! :) but i love love love them. 

invitations for my friend reci's shower to welcome her twin girls :)

favors & thank you notes

cookie favors :: "thank you for making my shower TWEET!"

addressing envelopes for reci's thank you notes