SOLD

Well, we have some exciting news to share. We have purchased a new house!! For the past year, we have looked all over the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex trying to figure out where we wanted to buy a house. After looking in Dallas, in Fort Worth, and everywhere in between, we finally decided that Frisco felt like "home" to us. Before the girls were born, Ben and I lived in two different older homes in Little Rock.  We love the charm and character that older homes and neighborhoods have but decided that the upkeep is so difficult and that it would be nice to have lots of SPACE which you don't get with the old houses. We found a brand new neighborhood in Frisco that we love, and were able to purchase a home that is in the process of being built. In fact, when we signed our first round of papers the only thing that had been done was the plumbing. There is a model home in the neighborhood that is the same floor plan, so we knew when we saw the model that we really liked the layout. The good thing about getting in at such an early stage is that we got to pick out the cabinets, flooring, light fixtures, etc. There are sooo many details that go into building a house that I never would have thought of. Here are some pictures of the process so far:

 This is blurry but it is Ben putting the "sold" magnet on our lot on the map of the neighborhood.

This is the first picture we have. Dirt and pipes.

 The frame

 Starting to look like a house

 Windows are in

 The staircase

 This is a view of the kitchen and what will eventually be the bar which seperates the kitchen and the living room.

 SOLD!

This is all of the stuff that we picked out. Cabinets, counter tops, carpet, wood floors, etc.

 There is a really nice pond and park area across the street from our phase of the neighborhood. Here the girls are feeding the ducks at the pond.

Tales from Easter Past

Since I waited until the girls are 3 1/2 to start this blog, I thought it would be fun to post some old pictures to see how much they have grown. My plan is to do this with each Holiday. Since Easter was the most recent holiday, here are some pictures from Easters past and present.

Ava in bunny ears

Their first Easter Baskets

Bunny Pajamas

The girls were about 3 1/2 months old in these pictures. Sweet little Macy still had her oxygen. She got it off shortly after this. This time in our lives is such a blur, but I remember that Mom and I took the girls to the mall to have the picture made with the Easter Bunny. I don't think we went to church that Easter. Going places that required you to be somewhere at a specific time was next to impossible for us during those first few months. Between feedings, giving medicines, and Macy's oxygen, we pretty much kept it close to home. I know that we had lunch with my family at my Aunt Di's house that afternoon, which was probably a huge ordeal but I really don't remember the specifics.


Their second Easter we went to Monticello. This was their first time to dye Easter eggs and also their first Easter egg hunt. We hunted eggs in Meme's (my grandmother) big backyard and enjoyed some family time with Gigi, Papa, Uncle Craig, MeMe, Papaw Bob, and Nana.

Dyeing Easter Eggs with Gigi

Checking out what Easter Bunny brought

Loved these Easter dresses!

Hunting for Eggs

The next year, we spent the Saturday before Easter at The Nalley's house in Rockwall. The girls had a great time hunting for Eggs with Brooklyn. They have the perfect backyard for egg hunting. We spent Easter together just the four of us. We went to church then went to TCU to take pictures in front of the beautiful tulips.

 Out of about 50 pictures, this is the best one. ha ha!

This year, we had a pretty low key Easter. The girls had an Easter Egg hunt at school. We dyed Easter Eggs, went to church, and hunted eggs at our house. My favorite thing about this Easter was on Saturday morning before Easter, the girls and  I were talking about the Easter story. I was asking them what they knew about the story of Jesus on the cross. They were able to tell me bits and pieces saying that there were soldiers with angry eyes (?) that were mean to Jesus and he was in a cave for 3 DAYS (major emphasis on 3 days). I was filling in pieces for them and telling the whole story and when I said, "and he rose from the dead" Ava and Macy both shouted "Hosanna!!!" at the same time. Love it!! And love their sweet little Christian school that teaches them such important lessons! : )

I was amazed that they sat in the Easter Bunny's lap. They actually asked to do it. Ava had to be persuaded with candy but not only did she sit in his lap... she smiled about it!!

 Before Easter party at school

Easter morning pictures at TCU





It's hard to believe how much they have grown and how time flies! Happy late Easter!

Mayfest and Mother's Day

This weekend was Mayfest in Fort Worth. This is a big, outdoor festival on the Trinity River that usually draws a big crowd. We went last year just for the fun of it, but this year Ava and Macy danced at Mayfest. Here they are in their costumes (minus the hats) before we left the house.

The song they danced to was "Beat It" so in the above picture they are showing off their Michael Jackson one-glove look. We wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to get there in case the traffic was bad or the parking was a nightmare, but we ended up getting there WAY early. When we found their stage, they were on dance #6 in the lineup and Ava and Macy's dance was #29. We knew they weren't going to be able to sit and watch all of the other dancers so we killed some time by walking around Mayfest. Here they are petting a real Horned Frog.

 

Then we looked at some cute, little puppies (from a distance of course).

We had a little refreshment.

Here is Ava watching the "Big Girls" dance. I think she could have sat and watched all of the dances,

but Macy was a little more antsy.

Amost time!

FINALLY, after we had been there for about an hour and a half, it was time for BEAT IT. If you want to see some hilarious comedy, check out this link below:

Ava and Macy Dance to Beat It

I am terrible at videoing, so sorry for the shakiness and cutting off their heads in the beginning but how hilarious is it that they forgot to turn around for the first 30 seconds?? The end is supposed to be the Moonwalk but it turned into a little dancer pileup. I love it! I think it is precious and Ava and Macy will look back on it and crack up one day.  After all of that excitement, they really were "beat" and fell asleep on the way home.

In June, they have their big recital where they will do the Beat It dance again and a ballet dance. Can't wait to see what they have in store for that! : )

As for Mother's Day, I have to brag on Ben for a minute because check out my Mother's Day present:



A Cuisinart Food Processor!! I was so excited about this! I mentioned one day while watching the food network that I would like to have a food processor. I didn't think much else about it until Macy came in the room last night carrying this big, heavy box. I was really surprised that Ben remembered I said that AND he did his research and got me a really good one!! I chopped, diced, and grated things all day. So fun! Happy Mother's Day!!

The Picture That Started It All

I have done the thing I never thought I would do. Start a blog. I was against blogging because I didn't want "update blog" on my already never-ending list of things to do.  But then.... THIS happened:

I was in the kitchen cooking dinner and there was a big pile of laundry on the couch  (see above comment about never ending list of things to do) when I overheard Ava and Macy in the living room giggling and playing.  They like to "help" me fold the laundry which usually involves them wadding everything into little balls but it keeps them happy so I let them do it. This is what I thought they were doing when I heard Macy say, "You be Brooke and I'll be Ben." I looked in to see what she was talking about and saw them wearing the clothes in the above picture! Macy is wearing Ben's polo shirt and Ava is wearing my t-shirt. I cracked up! I immediately took a picture and texted it to Ben who was still at work. We both laughed for days about it.

So..... what does that story have to do with starting a blog???

Well,  I kept thinking about this incident knowing that I needed to write it down before I forget it. But it isn't nearly as funny without the picture so my thought process was that I should print off the picture to put with the story in their baby book. But, they do hilarious things everyday (in my opinion) so it would be nice to have one place to put all of their funny little quotes and stories so that they can go back and read them one day. It would need to be something that I can access easily and it would be nice if I could put pictures with it without too much hassle. Hmmmm..... what should I do? Start a blog??? I tried to push away the blog thoughts for a few days, but after thinking a lot about it I decided it was the best solution. I am really doing this for Ava and Macy to have as a keepsake one day, but I think it will be a nice way to keep our family updated on our life since they live far away.  I am pretty sure this whole blog thing just made my mom the happiest person on the planet.  And I have a feeling that "update blog" will probably get moved to the top of the list.... way above "cook dinner" and "fold laundry."