January Photo Round Up - the Zoo, Stock Show, Painting Birthday Parties, Western Day and more

As we wind down the first month of 2014,

(wow...where did that go!?)

here are a few things we did that haven't made the blog yet.

 

Ben went skiing with some of the Joyner family boys and was gone for a whopping 4 nights. They had an absolute blast and we did what we could to fill our up our days without daddy. One day I took the kids to the Zoo.

It was a gorgeous day and it was so, so much fun.

 

 

Pretty much every statue of an animal we passed by they asked for a picture on.

Individually

and together smiling,

and then together crazy.

I was happy to sit back and click away.

A boy and his turtle...

Kinley's turn...

These crazies have so much fun together!

Carousel Ride!

Lunch time!

 

We facetimed with Dad as much as we could and almost every night we all three watched a movie in my bed.

  It was heaven.

 

Kinley was so excited for Ben to get home that she drew him this picture of all of us with our arms in the air running to see dad as he was driving home. She set it up right on the washing machine so he would see it first thing when he walked in from the garage.

 

We went to the stock show with Honey and Boss one Sunday and my kids were in heaven with all the animals. Right when we walked in the gate keeper told us that a new baby longhorn had been born that day and to go see it in Cattle barn 3. It was the cutest little baby still all wet from being born and up and hobbling around trying to walk. It was probably the newest baby cow I have ever seen.

  It was so cute.

More beautiful longhorns

Riding a tractor

my big girl relaxing in a swing

baby pigs!

 

And we picked up a couple of souvenirs at the stock show that were perfect for Western Day at school. Ty's hat and Kinley's pink horse belt added just the perfect flair.

Leslie volunteered for Western Day and sent me some cute pics of this cowboy.

 

We had a couple fun birthday parties in January.

Kinley's friend Cami had a Rapunzel painting party, because Rapunzel loves to paint, and it was fantastic.

They rotated stations of decorating birthday cards to the birthday girl, painting their own canvas and decorating their artist apron.

 It was so organized with a million kids and so fun. Shea did a great job!

You can't go to a Rapunzel party without dressing like Rapunzel!

These girls...they are getting excited about their combined bday party in late March. Our first combined party ever but, they are so, so excited.

 

I went to a different painting birthday party with mommies for Stacee's birthday. It was one of those paint and sip wine places. I have never done one of those and it was a fun activity. Not sure I would hang any of the painting choices actually in my home but, it was a great night.

And what is an adult bday party without some personalized adult drinks?!

 

The weather has been so on and off this month.

It will be amazing for a couple days, then totally freezing and unbearable. When the weather is good we take advantage. One night we had a fun dinner outside.

 These moments are my favorite ever.

These two angels are the light of my life.

I got a couple checkups from Doctor Kinley... this picture cracks me up.

And this turkey needs to live in a nudist colony. No clothes is definitely his preference.

 

We had playgroup at the Ark in Coppell one day and that place was a hit! We loved getting to stop by and see Aunt Minnie since we were in Coppell and being inside on a freezing day. The slides were awesome and the kids just had so much fun! These girls wanted to pose again.

We have a lot more exciting things planned for February.

Can't wait!

Black and White Bunco

I have been a part of a Bunco group for about a year now. 

 I started going as a sub with Lindsey and Leslie long before I was a member and I have just grown to love all the girls so much. There are 12 girls in it and we rotate each month to a different girls house. 

 I am not sure when we started doing theme bunco nights..but, it has been a recurring trend this past year. 

 We have had 80's night, pajama night, team jersey night, etc. 

 I decided on Black and White Bunco night simply because Bunco involves dice and it was easy. 

 Everyone dressed in black and white and brought black and white food. 

I served chicken tacos with white flour and corn tortillas and black beans and everyone else really got on board with the black and white food theme too. 

 We had blanca queso, hohos, dark and white chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate cake balls, white wine, etc. 

 And dressing black and white was super easy because everyone had something on hand in their closet that went perfect. 

 Of course, I had to bust out my big chalkboard for the occasion because it just fit the theme perfect!      

There are so, so, so many black and white patterns out there. 

 I am not usually one for zebra but, I went over the top with zebra print for this party. I loved it with polka dots and chevron and stripes. 

 It was so fun! 

 

I printed out these dice templates from the internet on cardstock and filled them with black and white m&m's for each girl to take home. 

I got up in the attic and brought down some chinese lanterns and polka dot pinwheels that I had. I filled mason jars with marshmallows for centerpieces and I printed off more dice to string for a banner on the fireplace. 

 

Whoever gets a "Big Bunco" during the evening has to wear something from our box of flare. 

 There are boas, tiaras, and lots of silly things. 

 I bought these black and silver top hats for our Big Bunco girls that night and all of them were put to good use! 

I loved this quote...fit so perfectly. 

 

Gary and Cheryl kept the kids for me while everyone was at my house and when they came in for the night, Ty could not get enough of the pinwheels. 

 His face was so serious. 

 

I am so glad we got a group picture (plus Kinley and Ty). 

 It was the only night in maybe a year that every single girl could come and we had no subs or phantom stuffed animal players. 

 It was so fun!

january friend time - sleepovers, play dates and lots of baby shea

2014 has started out with lots of fun friend time! 

 The day after we got back from Costa Rica, Ben left for a guys weekend with his bible study guys to the lakehouse. 

 So, it has become a tradition that while they dads are away, we have a mom and kid sleepover! 

 This sleepover was at Lindsey's and I think with 6 moms and 12 kids, we are starting to get the hang of it. 

 These two really didn't even unpack...just switched out a few things and were ready to go again!

   

We ordered pizza and played with every toy in their house, and made a huge pallet of nap mats and sleeping bags in their playroom. 

 Pretty much every picture looks like this... 

 

...lots of movement and lots of smiles. It is so worth it and just a blast. 

 

We turned out the lights and put on Tangled and before long, they were all out.

   

After the holidays and being out of town for like the first 2 weeks of baby shea's life, we couldn't get over to see her fast enough. We booked it to McKinney as soon as we could and spent the afternoon playing and cuddling that sweet angel.

   

 These two are twins...

   

 This crew...so much fun. 

 They had endless amounts of plays and puppet shows and are always so sad to leave. 

Luckily, Ty and I got to see Kris and Baby Shea again that week at a fun play date with some high school friends. We met at Liz's and got to see her and Alli and Meredith, McKenna and Levi too. It was such a dream and so easy for us all to meet there. I hope we do it again and again.  

 Ty could not get enough of baby shea...it is so cute how obsessed he is with babies these days.

   

Then Sunday, Kinley wanted to sit in church with me and I was excited to have her there since Ben was out of town. 

 She is getting so big!

   

 That afternoon, we got to see the Barstads again at Honey and Minnie's house. It is so fun our mom's still live next door and we can now plan play dates with our kids in the houses we grew up in.

 I love it so much.

   

 We have also been getting in some fun neighbor time. 

 These two girls are just attached at the hip. If they go more than a day without some one-on-one time...they get the itch and we can't stop hearing about it. 

 

 And Rachel came over with sweet baby Cooper and I could just eat him up. 

 He is so, so cute!

 

So thankful for all these sweet friends.  More fun January activities to come!