Canyon for Father's Day

For Father's Day, Rob wanted to go to the canyon and have a picnic, so we did! 

It was a beautiful day!

We walked around a bit, but not too much because it was muddy.

Genny's hair decided to rebel...

Then we investigated the water crossings.  It was fun.  The water was running, and it was all kinds of muddy to wade around in!

And then we made a family portrait.

butterflies

Today we went out looking for information on plants for a yard improvement project.  

Trying to appease the little people, I took them to a greenhouse outside town that has a butterfly habitat.  And for $2, they let you in to see the butterflies, chrysalises and caterpillars.

(Amarilloites, it's Panhandle Greenhouses on South Washington...)

Although it was a blatant way for me to use bribery to learn about some suitable plants, it was really fun! The butterflies were active and it was small enough that the girls could easily spot them.  An employee talked to us about the different species and let the girls ask about anything they wanted to.

Sweet girls!

There was also a fairy garden in there that was neat to look at.

 And then we came home and did a rain dance.  (Severe weather predicted for this evening)

Park it up!

Today we headed out to the park.  It was a beautiful day!

Pizzas on Friday

 One of the girls' favorite things to make is homemade pizzas.

 Because they get to make them themselves, and that's fun!

so here they are, creating last night's dinner.

And here's another of our "traditions," if you can call it that.  They are watching what they call the "Friday Song."  Every Friday, usually in the morning, we watch this video.  It's a rather cheesy song, but the girls love it and ask for it each Friday. I've put it here so you can enjoy it for yourself.



Yesterday, Genny asked me "Mommy, is Rebecca Black a big rockstar yet?"  I told her no.  She said "She might not be, you know...."

Summer girls!

Ok, here's the girls in all their summer awesomeness.  

Clearly, we are ready for some watermelon and some fireworks.

So what you see below is our summer list.  We get the girls to tell us all the fun things they'd like to do during the summer and we color them in as we do them, and hopefully we'll have all of it colored by the end of August.  It's fun and it gives them a visual of all the fun we've had.

Swimming and Dancing

Yesterday we went on several adventures.

First, to Fish Pros.

Now, you big city folk have aquariums and stuff, but we in Amarillo have Fish Pros.  It's a pet store, but they let you walk around for free.  They have some seriously cool aquariums.

Look mommy, the big catfish!

This is our favorite tank, and it has sharks and a stingray and a puffer fish and a starfish in it.

For a quarter, you can buy food to feed the koi.

 

Also, they have a reptile room you can go through if you'd like to pay a dollar.  Totally worth it.  Giant snakes, lizards, spiders, birds.... and some big ol' turtles.

Seriously, I love Fish Pros.

Then we went to the library where the Kwadhi dancers were performing.

Here's the girls with one of the "fancy dancers."  Isn't he a cutie?

And the girls got to participate in one of the dances too!

All in all, a fun summer day!

School days

Now that I have been converted to the evil world of the iphone, I have more random pictures than ever to share with you.....   

This was on Genny's last preschool field trip to the zoo.  She's such a big girl!  

All year, when Genny goes to school on Wednesday mornings, I to let Audrey choose what we will do.  And almost every Wednesday she chose the Exact Same Thing.

Here goes:

1.  I want to go to Noo-Nited (United) and push the little cart.

2.  I get a pinky donut and you get a chockwatt donut.

3.  We go home and watch Monsters on the couch.  (Monsters, Inc)

So here we are on our last Wednesday morning of the school year...

pinky donut, couch...

and Monsters.

Art Show

I've made a huge scientific discovery.  Ready to hear it?  

You know how people are always seeking to make us "a paperless society"?

Well, that's pointless.  Never going to happen.

Because little girls everywhere are bound and determined to make Copious Amounts of Art.

All the time.

Here's some of our more recent, more exciting pieces.

Audrey drew this one.  It's her and Nana.

Genevieve and Audrey, drawn by Genevieve of course.  

This one was from Genevieve's school, but it cracks me up!

Also from school.  I asked her when I saw this "Have you ever played soccer?"  She told me, "No, but I don't really have a sport."  I asked if she wanted to try a sport.  "Um, no Mommy."

Also from school.  I think this is awesome not only because her favorite food is mushrooms but also because that's a really good rendering of a mushroom!

by Genevieve.  Cinderella, Aurora and Snow White

by Audrey.  This was the first drawing she made of anything other than scribbles.  It's our family and we are birds.  Gen added the letters so we knew who was who.

This is Genevieve's favorite thing to draw:  her, Audrey and me in princess dresses.

See this woman?  Wherever she is, she's annoyed with me.  Or, she should be.
You see, I decided mid-afternoon that I'd do a yoga DVD. One that she made.  Just a 25-minute one.  No problem, right?

I got about 10 minutes into it, and I was dutifully inhaling and exhaling, but all the time I was having to include in the sequence "no, please don't get the paints out now" or "please don't do that to the dog" as the girls were playing.  And by "playing" I mean that they were talking at the top of their lungs and driving rolling toys around me.  And asking "Mommy, what are you doing?" approximately 100 times.

Which is fine.  After all, taking care of them is my job! But then the dogs decided that every time I touched the floor, I was asking them to play.  Which I Was NOT!

Back to this lovely woman, who was leading the DVD.  She kept saying helpful things like "Quiet Your Mind" and "Find a Peaceful Spirit" which is good advice, but if only she could see through the TV!

Not to mention that she was insisting that I contort into all sorts of versions of pretzel shapes while "melting my heart to the sky" or whatever the hell that means.  Peaceful spirit, my ass.

So anyway, I made it through the DVD, to the end part, where you are supposed to lie peacefully on the floor and meditate or sleep or something yogatastic, and this was the invitation that the children and the dogs in my house could not resist...   but oh well.

Namaste, ya'll.

Animals....

Audrey has really gotten into her animals.
Here's Dino:

Isn't he a cutie?

he's her favorite right now.

She'll tell you that he eats marshmallows and roasted hyenas ("even the faces!")

and drinks apple juice.

Audrey sleeps with 26 stuffed animals in her bed.  And she knows if one is missing.

Last night she gave these to me:

and instructed me that they were going to sleep in my bed.  Apparently hers had gotten crowded so she was delegating.

Last Day of School!

Well, here we are.  It's the not-so-little girls headed out for their last day of preschool/mother's day out.

Feel free to compare to:

  and this one:

So now we are ready for summer.  I'm going to try to blog all summer (I know, I know, I've said it before....).  We'll see how it goes!

bunny princess

My guard dogs, hard at work.

I'M A BUNNY PRINCESS!

2 Ballerinas

Audrey is starting ballet next week for the first time, and so yesterday we went to purchase some teeny ballet shoes.

Flinging.

This is a text conversation Rob and I had last night.
I thought it was funny.....

Momentous nails

The girls and I got our nails done today.  This is classified as a Very Special Treat in our house.
What was the treat for?  Good question.

Because Audrey is doing really well with pottytraining and we wanted to reward her for it.

Because we are thankful she's cooperating.
Because if she didn't, there wouldn't be any way to convince her to.
Really.

It's been a journey.  Pottytraining has been one of the most challenging life changes with the girls so far.

Day 1:  {Audrey} "I don't want to go to preschool and I don't want to go on field trips and I don't want to go to ballet and I don't WANT to be a big girl and I DON'T WANT to go to gymnastics and I JUST WANT TO BE A BABY AND WEAR DIAPERS AND STAY HOME WITH MOMMY FOREVER!"

Day 4: {Audrey} "I'll never ever go on the potty!  NEVER!"

Day 5: {Me} "Why the hell did I start pottytraining 5 days before Christmas?"

Day 16: {Audrey, flashing McDonald's parking lot} "HEY!  LOOK AT MY PANTIES!" 

Look at my big girls!