Texas Water Rampage - SO MUCH FUN!

Granny Deb treated the girls, Donnie and I to a day at Texas Water Rampage here in Lubbock. Even after living here for twelve or so years, I've never been to this water park, and neither had the girls! We were also excited that Emily and Annabelle agreed to join us. The girls (and even the adults) had A BLAST! If we climbed the stairs to go down the big slides one time, we must have done it 80 times! The first few trips down the big slides, Makki wanted me to ride with her, and Belle wanted to go with Emily. However, after getting the hang of it, our fearless four year olds were sailing down the huge slides by themselves. It was funny to see them laying on their backs, crossing their ankles and putting their hands behind their heads to go down the huge slides. It was like they had gone down them everyday of their little lives! Sydni had no qualms about doing any of the rides, and took off like a shot around the park. Donnie and I had a hard time keeping up with her! She and Donnie would "race" down the dual slides, over and over. Our legs were like jelly by the time we left the park! A great family day! Thanks, Granny Deb!

It's bright, Mommy, and we have a lot of stuff to do! Hurry up and take your dang picture!
Did I mention how EXCITED these two were to be there???

Swimming - a Summer MUST!

Syd's swimming lessons last summer are paying off BIG TIME! She can now dive off the board or side and can swim the length of the pool. We had so much fun with our neighbor Tia at the Hillcrest Country Club the other day! Mak is going to start Seahorse Swimming lessons next week, but she's making progress!

Divas of the pool!

The Playroom to Office Conversion

The play room was the bane of my existence. We had entirely too many toys out at once and the girls were too overwhelmed to keep it clean. I decide we would store all of our toys in plastic tubs and rotate one tub out every few weeks...sort of like they do at day care! I repainted the lilac walls with the butternut gold we have throughout our house and converted it in to an office! Donnie and I are glad we now have a place to work, and the girls have barely noticed the absence of their huge mess of toys. I think they actually appreciate their toys now that they are being rotated. Opening a new tub is like getting new toys every few weeks!

Goodbye, play room!

Hello, office! Notice that I didn't buy a single new item for this conversion! Just paint! ;)

The Waterpark in Our Backyard

The water slide Pawpaw Marlon bought Syd for her birthday last year is awesome to have in our backyard! It might be a pain to drag out and set up, but the girls will literally play for HOURS on it without stopping. We've drug it out quite a bit this summer, and will be so sad when it's too cold to play on it! I highly recommend these blow up slides! Hours, upon hours of entertainment!!!

They didn't want to stop for a picture!
I think we could set this up in the front yard and charge admission to the neighborhood kids! Ha!

They have a BALL on this thing! Thank you AGAIN, Pawpaw! It's given us two summers of FUN!

Welcom MAX, the Bunny to our Family!

Er...welcome Max to Granny Deb's home, now! Ha! Pop bought the girls a sweet bunny appropriately named "Max", inspired by Max & Ruby on Nickelodeon. However, I'm allergic to anything with fur, so the girls' bunny now lives at Granny's house. (Along with the kittens Pop also brought home for them. The man can't say "no" to his grand kids!) Although Max's stay at our house was short, the girls had fun with him while it lasted. I TRIED to endure the stuffy nose and itchy eyes as long as I could, but when I woke up the second day after Max arrived, Donnie took one look at me and said, "Max has to go back to Granny's house." I guess my swollen nose and eyes were a big clue that my allergies were for real?

We BRIEFLY allowed Max out of his cage to hop around. He immediately headed the opposite direction of the girls!

Fudge was going NUTS outside. He could see Max hopping around through the windows, and he was NOT HAPPY that he couldn't get to him. I've never heard Fudgey cry, but he was howling and whining trying to break down the door to get to Max!

Sydni is like her Aunt Hayli...she loves animals!

No One Lost a Limb - 4th of July Success Story!

So maybe Donnie is right...I do need medication. No, not for putting up with his nonsense, but for being the morbid mother that I am! I used to LOVE 4th of July fireworks when I was younger. Those of you who went to our wedding in White Deer know that it is a time-honored tradition for the town to gather into a small circle and shoot fireworks at each other each year, so I should be used to the hazards that might befall my own children on the 4th, right? WRONG! I will say that AFTER having children, I HATE the 4th of July. I can't keep the running diatribe out of my head that quizzes me over and over..."What if the firecracker goes off in her hand? Her eye? What if she accidentally burns her sister with the punk? What would I do if a firework was coming straight for them? What if she trips and falls on top of the firework she is lighting?" I KNOW! INSANE, RIGHT? I can't help it! There are so many freakish accidents that can occur on the 4th! Needless to say, for most of our 4th activities, I said silent prayers to God to protect my babies...over, and over again!

Now that I can write this post without having to report any injuries or loss of appendages, I guess I can report that we all had a great time shooting fireworks with my father-in-law, Marlon, Jeri Kate and Aunt McCaleb. We gathered at one of Marlon's friend's barn outside of the city limits. Marlon is like a big kid when it comes to the 4th, so he practically bought an entire fireworks stand for McCaleb and the girls. Only one minor incident nearly spoiled the fun, but luckily, I'm married to a guy who can sprint, because a series of "engineered" artillery shells fell over and nearly took off Sydni's head. Donnie scooped her up as soon as he saw the tubes holding the shelves falling over, and sprinted her behind the cars before the shells hit. Yeah....4th of July is DEFINITELY not my favorite holiday now!!! ;)

Daddy and Makki...I still thought 4yrs old was too young to be lighting her own fireworks, but Dad didn't agree.
McCaleb is a PRO at lighting fireworks!

Marlon supervises the crazies as they light their MANY fireworks.

Awe, my sweet Doodle!

Donnie enjoys lighting fireworks as much as the girls do!

4th of July Activites!

Decorating the golf car with Pop for the big parade!
Syd's favorite holiday - 4th of July (and perhaps Christmas!)

Love those freckles!

Patiently waiting for the parade to begin.

Noree Smith, Granny Deb, Mak and Sydni are very excited about riding in the golf cart parade.

Boots rode in the Jeff Gordon golf cart! Isn't he a cutie?

Sydni and Mak helped Granny throw candy!

Cutie-pie!

Wedding Dress Fitting!

Every year, Sydni tries on my wedding dress around her birthday. My goal is to take it every year until she is 18 (Mak, too!), and then we will make a collage of her dress pictures! (It should make a fun centerpiece for her wedding shower tables someday! Ha!)
Mommy's wedding dress is such a BIG DEAL to them!

Um, I can't zip the dang thing up anymore! Ha! Maybe after I graduate from P90X I will be able to?

Makki looking lovely in my wedding gown!

Summer Fun - June FLEW By!!

June is our favorite month of Summer vacation. You aren't counting down the days until you have to go back to school, and it's just full of lazy days and summer fun. The girls and I are truly appreciating our time off this year! Sydni sleeps in until at least 10am each morning, and Makenzi doesn't ask me every morning if she has to go to school! The morning grind during the school year is what is hardest for all of us. I think having the girls wake up naturally and stress-free makes such a difference in their attitudes the rest of the day! God bless Summer vacation! Here are snippets of some of our June activities: Uncle Jason, throwing Sydni during our weekend visit to White Deer.

Sydni loves Eclipse and the Twilight Saga pretty much because her Mommy does. I know her wanting to be like me won't last forever! I'm sure when she's 12 she will be rolling her eyes at this picture.
I've been waiting for this movie to come out for quite some time! Syd and I went to collect our Twilight/Eclipse fan stuff at Burger King.

Sydni cuts her hair off..again!

Syd and Mak at Karla's.

Pretty cute, isn't she?!

Aunt Hayli and Uncle Jason have the cutest pool in WD that the girls LOVED! They had so much fun hanging out with their cousins for a few days.

The cool fire pit that we roasted marshmellows.

My baby nephew, Brenner. He's growing up so fast!

Sydni FINALLY learned how to ride her bike! Donnie worked with her until she was able to master it. Good job Syd and Daddy!

Makki still hasn't mastered the bike riding thing, but she's working on it!

The BIG 3-0!

Donnie planned a fun party for my thirtieth birthday, and even though I wasn't particularly stoked to give up my twenties, it was a great evening spent with good friends! We started out on Abuelo's patio, listening to music and catching up with our buddies we hadn't seen in a few weeks. Granny Deb and Pop had the girls for the evening, and it was nice to be sans children for a night! Great job on the party, Don!

I had so many goals I wanted to accomplish before this big birthday that I detailed in my 29th BD blog post. I realized a few things this year when attempting to complete these tasks: 1. I will never run competitively again. I ran my butt off in high school and competed on my track and cross country teams at the varsity level for all four years. I don't enjoy running for over 30 or 45 minutes, so why, oh why do I need to torture myself at 30 years of age? My joints are in their 20s any longer, so I've decided my fitness and health is why I will run. Hence, the decision to start the P90X program. I'm on day 17 and already seeing huge transformations in my body. Hopefully, I can stick to it for the full 90 days and see amazing results.

I'm horrible about not finishing things that I start, but I'm trying to change that pattern! Yet another goal for my thirties...to finish stuff I start! Which brings me to my novel - a continual work in progress. I'm not sure if anything will ever happen after finishing it, but I'm nearly a 1/3 of the way there. 67 pages in, and I'm having a hard time gaining the self confidence I need to finish, but I'm going to move forward anyway, because if I never finish it will always be this big "what if?" looming over my head. Donnie is helping me transform the playroom into an office, so I'm hoping that having a quiet place to go (and lock the door) to write will help me make some progress on my story. I have the entire thing outlined in detail, so now all that is left is me writing the dang thing!

Appreciating my family, good health, and great friends is on the top of my "to do list" for the next ten years. I think making investments in all three will guarantee that my thirties will be a great and rewarding ride!

So excited about a night on the town with my husband!
Friends! I have many more friends that were also in attendance, but like a dork, I didn't charge my camera for the occasion.

Donnie...dancing by himself! LOL! He did a great rendition of "Ice, Ice Baby" at The Office. We stopped in to sing a bit of karaoke. So much fun!

I LOVE the dress my mother-in-law funded for my birthday party! You rock, Deb!