More March Madness!

The girls were sooo excited about our new hot tub.  Every single day I heard, "mommy, can we go in the hot tub?!"  Absolutely we can!  And so we did.  We invited the next door Sierra over and threw some bath toys in there to make it extra super fun!  Lots of smiles make mom happy :)

Love McKel's big grin :)

Sierra shows off her cheesey smile :)

A video of the girls at play:

Avril had asked mommy if she could get her ears pierced for her birthday.  With all the business of preparing for her party, and mom's crazy work schedule, we just didn't make it to the ear piercing place in time.  So mom decided it would be fun to have a girls day out!  Avril, McKel, Sierra, and mommy spent the whole day together.  And we did make it to Claire's boutique to put some holes in that sweet girl's ears.  Big moment for Avril.

A tired looking McKel

Lookin cool in those shades, Av

Diva girl Sierra

Haha, McKel trying to set a trend with the upsidedown shades look

Ladies hittin up Angies... where the locals eat!

Sierra in her super diva pose

Where is our food?!!

Ready for the mess to begin!

Tick tock tick tock

Now let the spaghetti mess begin!!

Avril's very favorite food is spaghetti.  It also happens to be the messiest food possible for kids to eat.  Oh well.  I've gotten pretty used to messes since becoming a mom.

Tuckered McKel went right to sleep on the way to the mall

This brave girl is ready to get some ears pierced!

So brave

Not even one tear shed...

I was so proud of Avril.  She sat there and waited her turn patiently.  She picked out some pink heart earrings.  For some reason the needle did not go all the way through her ear lobe the first time and I was so worried that Avril was going to freak out and scream since they had to do it again.  But no, she remained calm and cool.  She didn't cry one bit!  I told her to be brave like Rapunzel and she listened to her Mommy.  Love my Av.

So excited to have earrings!!

Time to play on gigantic junk food!

The best of friends...

Nana took mommy to get her hair colored out in Richmond, where her friend Lacey has a salon from her home.  Her little daughter had some creative fun with Nana Gayle's hair during the appointment.  Had to include a shot of that!

Hold on Nana Gayle, I still have a ton more clips that need to go in your hair!

March

The month of March just whizzed by. Its so hard to keep up. The girls are getting bigger and learning more every day. Its so fun to watch them develop in to such little beauties. Life is chaotic. We find ways to stay busy all the time! Love my little family so much. Here are some shots of Mommy goofing off with Avril before work/school.

Uncle Jared is the proud owner of a super fancy juicer and he takes lots of fresh produce, turns it in to juice, and drinks it up to make himself Mr. Healthy man. The other night he brought it to Nana and Papa's house and Avril helped make a concoction.

Avril the little helper :)

Grandma Joyce's house is always a favorite of the girls. They always ask to have a seat on the deer in the front yard:

Happy girls

The girls had a blast and made a mess of course. The two go hand in hand. Yummy cookies for all! Good times :)

Happy 4th Birthday Avril Princess!

Princess Avril.  Could she BE any more of a princess?  I think not!  Avril just LOVES anything princess related or Disney related.  Naturally, a princess-themed party suited her best.  Nana helped to make the decorations uber special, and we all enjoyed watching Avril's excitement for her very own 4th Birthday Party!  :)  All the girls dressed up in princess attire to make it authentic.

Here is Mommy's little princess girl, grinning from ear to ear :)

Avril and her good friend Sierra, who lives next door, posed for a princess pic

My 4 year old Princess

Mommy with her sweetheart girl

Little I mean Big McKel (McKel does not like to be called little anymore, she is a BIG girl), was running and took a tumble when she tripped over her princess dress.  She gashed open her chin something fierce.  Poor thing.  We bandaged her up but she was a little cautious and reserved the rest of the party after her accident.

Here is the other sweet princess doll, band-aid on chin and all...

Party girls

Look at all the princesses!

Papa Bryan holding sweet McKel

Siblings

Nana with a very happy Avril :)

Nana made this AMAZING pineapple cake.  This is mommy's favorite.  Avril loved it as well!

mesmerized

Make a wish!

Sierra helped...

poor McKel and her owie band-aid chin

Presents!!

So sweet, Avril reading to her little sister :)

The birthday party was a success!  So grateful that we could be around our family and friends for Avril's special day.
Avril is growing up so fast.  She is so sweet to her little sister (most of the time).  She remains the sweetheart girl.  Avril is incredibly creative and thoughtful.  She is affectionate, loving, a bit dramatic (okay, more than a bit), expressive, emotional, artistic, and extremely intelligent.  She says the most adorable things all the time, and you just want to bust up laughing at her precious comments.  You can't help but fall in love with her instantly.  I am so happy that I have this sweetheart daughter.  She is the greatest joy.  Love you, my sweet daughters... as much as the sky, as Avril would say...

Balance Times Day... 'n Stuff...

The girls love any holiday, but if Avril had to choose a FAVORITE holiday, it just might be "Balance Times Day."  That's the cute way Avril says Valentine's Day :)  I think she likes it so much because it is a craft-day, and Avril's favorite activity in the world is anything to do with art.  I like the holiday because look at how adorable they are in their little Valentine's Day dresses!
Mommy actually had a training meeting for work that was in Phoenix, Arizona for the week, so I wasn't even home for all the Valentine's Day fun...but Nana and Papa made sure to give the girls lots of love and attention while Mommy was away.  Here are the girls in some gorgeous dresses that Grandma Carme sent them:

Sisterly Love

Simply adorable Avril

I was so happy to come home to a couple of Valentine's Day packages on my doorstep, and some new Valentine's Day artwork on my fridge.  It made me feel so loved, which was nice because I was really all alone in Phoenix for the holiday.  Shelby sent me and the girls a box filled with stuffed animals and a sweet letter.  Grandma Carme sent us chocolates and a make up gift and a sweet card.  I was incredibly grateful for the packages.  Avril and McKel made me pictures that I keep on the fridge so that I smile when I see their bright faces :)

I just had to take this video of the girls and their new fluffy white cat friend.  McKel opened the front door and this white fluff-ball cat was sitting on the porch.  Avril, of course, screamed and McKel thought it would be fun to let the cat come in the house.  They just got a kick out of playing with her, and forever ask when the white cat is coming back in our house.  Maybe someday we will have to get these girls a pet.  Probably not a cat, mommy is not really a cat lover... but this cat brought lots of joy to our home for the night, we had such a fun time!



While in Phoenix at my Assistant Branch Manager training, I made some new friends.  One of the girls, Alexis, even went out with me on Valentine's night so I would not feel so all alone.  We had some delicious Italian food in downtown Phoenix, then dipped our toes in her hotel's rooftop pool, then spent a little time dancing.  It wasn't quite the same as having a real Valentine, but I was grateful to make a new friend there.

Here are some other February happenings:  I took this cute video clip of McKel dancing.  She loves to say, "shake your booty," and then do a little booty shake dance.  It cracks me up!

Here is Avril watching Dora on mommy's laptop.  The girls LOVE Dora the Explorer.

Some very exciting news this month:  Mommy splurged and bought a hot tub!  I found a sweet deal on KSL and thought this would be fun for the whole family.  It would give mommy a way to relax and get warm after the girls go to bed, and the girls can enjoy it when we are all at home looking for something fun to do.  And fun it has been, the girls ask to get in the hot tub every single day!  Here are some cute pics I took of Avril just after she got out of our new tub:

I just love this pic of Avril :)

And one final video:  Its story time!  Avril reads a story to McKel and its just soooo cute!