Who would have thought??

That painting with water could be so much fun??!!! This past weekend we went to see my parents for the first time since they have retired and moved away. We had so much fun, and I'll post some pictures later (once I've charged my camera, so I can download them). The girls always have a blast with Nonnie and Pops. I was completely shocked when my mom told the girls they could paint the deck....I thought she must have had some special washable paint. Oh no, just water. The girls loved it!!! They had their little brushes and a cup of water, and were so busy painting everything! Not only did the deck get painted, but so did the brick on the house, the grill, and even Chiquita (my parents dog)! Such a simple idea I had never thought of, so I thought I would pass it along!

Weekend at Bopee's (and GG of course)

A couple of weekends ago, we headed to Longview for a wedding. The girls had such a good time as always.

On Friday when we got there, GG took the girls to the Dollar General and they loaded up on toys. Purses, make-up, jewelry, lip gloss, fingernail polish, stickers and more! They had so much fun with all there new accessories. It was really funny to watch them put their little princess phones and lip gloss in their purses and carry them around. Such big little girls.

Saturday Bop had mentioned how he needed to go the post office. Maylee loves going to the post office with Matt, so she jumped on inviting herself to go with Bop. So we loaded up a car seat in Bop's truck, and she was good to go. I think Bop was a little nervous, as it was their first outing just the two of them. A little while later they returned....Bop with his arms full of "Chick-il-a" (notice no "f" according to Maylee). She had worked her magic on Bop. She also had managed to get him to buy her a package of bubble gum. Bubble gum and Chick-fil-a....Maylee was in high heaven. Oh and she even got to help Bop put diesel in the truck....so she says.

Here are some pics from the weekend:







GG got the girls these cute Minnie Mouse tee's and then fully accessorized with the matching Minnie ears!














Maylee was so proud of her "claws" as she called them. Got to love the dollar store!

I think it has been at least a year since I have snapped a picture of them both smiling at the same time!

The Maylee-gator and the Ella-gator

For the 4th of July, we headed to Lake Ouachita in Arkansas. This has become an annual event for us. It is the most beautiful lake we have ever seen. Get this....you can see you hands and feet while swimming, that's how clear the water is. The girls loved it. They loved being on the lake swimming (Ella realized she could swim with the life jacket, and loved it), riding in the boat, riding the tube, watching fireworks, eating home-made ice cream, and especially being with all our family. It was a great time.

The next day, Matt had his own trip planned for us....a trip into Hot Springs to a petting zoo/alligator farm. Maylee has been kind of obsessed with alligators these days, so we knew she would eat it up. Maylee loved the petting zoo part, but Ella was a little more timid. We were able to watch a feeding show where they fed these hungry alligators. This alligator farm has been in the same family for over 100 year...we thought that was pretty cool.

Maylee like watching the alligators from afar, but when she had the chance to touch a baby...she wanted nothing to do with it. To our surprise it was Ella who had no fear, and reached out and grabbed the thing by the tail!! I thought we were about to have a baby alligator on the loose! Oh how these kids are full of surprises. It really was a neat trip.


A regular little Snow White.

Maylee kept asking the goat in the trough "Why are you in there? How did you get up there?" She was quite perplexed.

Feeding time!

This was close enough.

Fearless Ella. If you asked her if she grabbed an alligator by the tail, with great certainty she would bob her head YES....too cute!

Not quite what I had imagined.....

Yesterday I had my last sonogram of this pregnancy. I love my doctor, she routinely does a sonogram at the first appointment, and then at 18 weeks and 30 weeks with a level 2 OBGYN (sonograms are all they do). It was at my 30 week sonogram with Maylee, when we discovered her heart defect. It was easier to see the defect obviously the bigger she was. So I'm so grateful that my doctor does the later sonogram.

Since I have had a high risk baby, my following babies have been looked at very carefully. Usually just an extra sonogram at week 22, but yesterday they used one of their 3D machines too. I was hopeful (but not too optimistic) that we would get a good 3D shot. As you can see, I wouldn't call it great. The best thing we saw in 3D was a leg. So we will just have to wait about 10 more weeks (maybe less!) to see for ourselves what our new precious baby looks like!

I'm just so thankful that everything looks perfectly healthy with this little girl....what a true blessing.

Daddy's Birthday!!

We celebrated Matt's birthday a couple weekends ago (I know, this is a little late). For his birthday he didn't want a cake....he said he just wanted brownies and ice cream. So that is what we had. Maylee loved licking the spatula and bowl. That night we went to eat a great steak at Bob's. Our reservations were at 6:45 and we were home at 8:30. Sad but true, we can't hang like we once could. He had a great day.

Ok, this wasn't Ella licking the brownie batter bowl, but I had to include a dirty face pic of her too. We had made dirt that day, and she was thoroughly enjoying herself!