Twincraft

This year for the twins bday we did Twincraft.
(They are obsessed with Minecraft and I have to admit that it makes me insane.  I hate having to monitor their screen time and I never really had to until Minecraft.  But for all intensive purposes, it is the perfect gender neutral theme for a bday and they are obsessed with it, so that does help.)
I tried to make a portal (but they didnt have pink streamers) and made it look pixelated with plates.



I was not on the ball and barely sent out an invites (ok, not any.  I sent them to school with the kids and few texts with a pic of the invite, but no actual invites went out.  Even to my brothers.  So, thankfully their class showed up and everyone who had gotten a picture text :)
Christopher and Tiffany spent their entire week making this cake that was as incredible to the taste as it is perfection in looks.  My kids could not get over it. They showed everyone who walked in the door the incredible cake their cousins had made.  Truly made the whole party.  (If you have been around awhile, you remember the incredible Noah's Ark cake they made for their second bday)




Thanks so much to everyone who came and celebrated and sang and stayed late and cleaned up!
Happy birthday to my twins.
I cant believe you guys are 7.  To say that I am proud of you is an understatement.  I could not be more thankful to have you both as middle children.  You handle the job of big, little and twin sibling with such class and patience.  Thank you for your forgiveness as I am trying to juggle all of this.  Thank you for your hard work Sass and your constant determination.  You never need any push or encouragement to do anything.   You are always ready and on the ball and I am so so thankful for that sweet side of you.  Ben, thank you for the kindness that just overflows out of you.  I have never met someone so sweet and kind and just a joy to be around.  You always put other people first and it is such an incredible joy to watch you.  You guys are total opposites and it makes my heart melt to see you compliment and help each other with your differences.  I hope you are always close and always encourage and love each other.

Happily Ever After

This is the summer of weddings for my family. All of us were in one at the end of June, Bob was just in one a couple weeks ago and the girls and I are in my cousins at the end of August. Then for the grand finale, my little sister gets married in February! My girls are going to be pros at being flower girls by that time.

Chris and Amy's was the first wedding. This was one of those weddings that lots of people had been praying and hoping for. Long story short, Chris and Amy have been in the same friend group and are both everyone's favorite people. To the rest of the world it only made sense that two wonderful people who were both single get together. With God's perfect timing, it really happened and it was such a joyful wedding to be apart of.
McKenna throwing down her classic look for the rehearsal.

Both my girls love Cooper and can't stay away from him. I don't blame them though.

During the rehearsal dinner they had an open mic for speeches. I'm not the one to jump up at the chance for public speaking so Bob and I had already planned ahead and he spoke for the both of us. Little did I know that my fear was not passed onto my girls. They both jumped up there with him and Ella kept tugging on his leg to say something. She said "I love Chris and Amy" and then McKenna followed with one of her sweet and mumbled prayers. It was so sweet.

The wedding colors were gray and coral and everything looked so pretty.

This was the first time for Ella and McKenna to be flower girls. I knew Ella would do it like a pro and not miss a beat. McKenna was a wild card though. I honestly had no idea what she would do. I pulled up some YouTube videos of flower girls and watched them with the girls about a week leading up to the wedding. McKenna loved it so much she would want to watch them every day. 

Once the real deal happened, they both did awesome! I will never forget getting to watch their glowing faces as they walked down the aisle dropping petals. They smiled the entire time and Ella still talks about it being one of her favorite things. 

My parents were at the wedding too and we honestly couldn't have done it without them. They were such a huge help the whole weekend. We took pictures before the wedding so there was a few hours of hanging out for the girls. I packed a Mary Poppin's bag of tricks and my mom and dad worked their magic. 

Amy asked me to make her some mini bunting for her cake topper with their names on it. I wish I would have done the names in white so they would have popped more but I think it turned out so cute.

Who doesn't love a photo wall?!

A wedding dance party might be one of my favorite things in life. I think the same goes for my whole family. My girls never left the dance floor.
We even practiced some cool new moves on our road trip to Lubbock.

I think McKenna wanted Cooper to dance with her.

Breakfast burritos were served towards the end of the night and were a big hit!

Even when McKenna was so tired, she refused to stop dancing. Paci and blanket in hand and she was ready to Party in the USA.

Do you guys remember THE bear? Go here for a little behind the scenes story. Brittany and I had been scheming this up for a while and I am so happy it actually happened. The bear was a surprise to Chris and Amy as they got in the get away car. Bahahaha! I love it so much and can't wait to see where it appears next. 

The wedding couldn't have been more perfect! Such a wonderful night celebrating an amazing couple!

Andy's wedding was a few weekends ago and it was also one of those weddings I have been hoping and praying for. Kristen and I met Andy in college at ACU. Then when Bob became a residence director, Andy was one as well. Once they realized their mutual love for the movie Bottle Rocket, they were best friends instantly. I have tried to set Andy up more than once because I knew what a catch he was. We were so excited when Andy told us he met the one! Her name is Jackie and she is fantastic and perfect for Andy. Their wedding was so much fun! It was in Austin and had such a cool vibe to it. Popcorn bars, Donut bar in place of grooms cake and so many outside games that my girls loved playing. 

Happy Summer Weddings!

so sweet...

Our sweet friend Brittany (and fantastic photographer) is pregnant! We are SO excited for her!!! She made the most creative and sweetest video to share the news with everyone.

The video is a stop-motion video, which is basically like 1500 pictures playing really fast. So cool! I have watched it a million times and it still brings tears to my eyes. It is just the cutest thing ever!

ella's first gymnastics class!

Ella had her first gymnastics class this week and it was hilarious, she loved it! The foam pit was her favorite and the bars were her least favorite. She has got a lot of muscle to build before she can hold herself up on them. But as Miley would say..."you gotta keep trying, gotta keep your head held high, it ain't about how fast you get there..it's the climb..."

besties

summer wrap up...

its been such a fun summer!! slip n slides, pools, parties, vacations, fun visitors. new roomates!

so perfect. so sad to say good bye but so excited that fall is almost here!! welcome to september!!

you make us so happy.

its hard to tell from the photos but we are all so excited to have jeff back!! he has been gone for a month for a family medicine rotation in tyler (that he just loved) and he got back late friday night. it has been a crazy month, but with help from the most wonderful friends ever we made it!! we can not tell you how much we missed you jeff. so glad you're back.

ella shopping around...

Me and Ella went to the store last night and she had her first true shopping experience. We only had to get a few things so I thought it would be fun to let Ella push the mini cart to get our groceries. She loved it and was cracking me up! Every time she would bump into something she would say "uh oh." It was too cute! I got some of it on video, hope you enjoy.

bye bye blair...

blair came to visit us this weekend and it was SO MUCH fun!! we did basically nothing but lay around and have a good time. a little beer pong, some celebrity, lots of trips to sonic, lots of wearing the same clothes the entire time, some making of break up ballads, planned some creative adventures for the future and a few rounds of hannah montana the movie. thanks for a perfect weekend.

we miss you so much!!

you make me feel like dancing...

Hope everyone has the kind of weekend that makes you feel like dancing the night away!

thanks.

for always making us smile.

bon appetit!

Last Friday night I went to see the movie Julie & Julia and of course came home very inspired to cook. Julia Child's beef bourguignon was a main recipe in the movie so thats what I had decided to make. I printed off the recipe (multiple pages) and began googling the cooking terms I didn't understand in the recipe. I knew my mom was coming in town Monday so I planned on making the big dish then. We began cooking at 3:00 yesterday and didn't stop till dinner was ready at 7:30. It was a very detailed process of cooking and I never could have done it on my own. Our good friend Jordan's birthday was yesterday so we had him and his wonderful wife Brittany over for dinner to celebrate his b-day. The beef bourguignon was good but I must say that I was expecting a little more after 4 1/2 hours of cooking! It was a fun day of cooking and a great night with good friends and food. Here are some pics of everything and a video of the digital birthday card that we gave Jordan for his birthday. Happy Birthday Jordan and Bon Appetit Julia Childs!