Thursday, April 24, 2014

Papa's Birthday

Dear Abby,
We celebrated Papa Larry's birthday by eating out at the Macaroni Grill at the Opry Mills Mall.  We met the whole fam there and had a lovely dinner. You were super impressed with the Italian Opera singer that sang "Figaro!!!" to us all while we were eating!  
After dinner, we wandered around a bit.  You loved watching this young girl sing with a guitar on the stage and even asked her if she could play Let It Go.  She could not... We ventured down to the carousel and took a spin...


And on our way back, you and Ellie decided you didn't need anyone to sing Let It Go, you just would do it yourself...


Apparently Ellie was not following the performance correctly, or at least that's what you think!
We had a great time with everyone and you got your new bike from Caroline and got to show everyone how you ride with no wheels right in the Opry Mills parking lot.  On a Saturday night.  With no helmet....

After School Cece's

Dear Abby,
We have really started hanging out with your school friends a whole lot.  The mommy's get along really well, and, of course, the kiddos do too!  The other day, one Mom mentioned she was taking her daughter to Cece's.  The next thing I know, a whole crew decided to go!  It was a fun, spur of the moment treat!  

I think you liked it!

NO WHEELS!

Dear Abby,
So, your cousin Caroline offered you her old bike.  Now this 'old' bike isn't really old, she just grew like no other AND it's a really nice bike, with gear changes and everything.  More importantly, it's a bike with no training wheels.  I didn't want to take the bike if you couldn't ride it.  So, one afternoon, when Mimi happened to be in town, we decided to give the no training wheels a go.  Let me just say, you had NO problems with it!!  You hopped on that bike and within in 5 minutes, you were riding all by yourself.  We were SOOOO proud (and impressed) at how easily it came to you.  And you were sold.  You LOVED riding the bike with no wheels.  The only problem was you had to have me get you started.  Well, the next day while Kate was napping, we tried it with just you starting on your own. Wa-lah! Off you went!  Here's a video of that.  We have more video of you first learning and Mimi took picture, so maybe I can get those one day.  For now, here you are on your little bike! 

That next weekend Caroline brought you her bike and you have not gotten off of it! You ask every day if you can ride your bike and you have gotten so good with it.
So impressed girly!!  Love you and your bike skills!

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Well...

Dear Abby,
As you can probably figure out, I'm behind yet again!  So here's the latest...
After the ski trip, we met Ms. Beverly (Knox's babysitter!) at Loveless Cafe and, well, since we had not eaten there EVER, we decided to try it out!  We all loved it and so did Mimi and Pic-pic!  There was even entertainment while we waited!
You also had Donuts with Daddy day.  You took Daddy to your classroom and showed him all your friends and different stations.  Daddy said most of the time you were just worried about trying to sit beside Kendall, but both of you said you had fun.
Ms. Pam said Daddy even let the girls play 'hair salon' with him!  She even has the pictures to prove it!
You also went to Cameron's laser tag birthday party that weekend with Daddy. You told me it was "Daddy weekend" and you two even washed the car.
You were super pumped about the pirate sword and patch that you got as a favor from Cameron's party and could not wait to show Mimi.
And by show Mimi, I mean say "I'm going to cut your neck off!". Mimi was able to surprise you with a sword of her own!!!  She also told you she had a treasure and you made her promise to show you the treasure next time we came in town.  She did not disappoint either! 
When the weather is the least bit nice outside, we've been walking to the pond with Knox.  You LOVE the walk to the pond and also love the tree that you climb at the pond.  Knox loves it, too, and we are slowly learning that he is going to be a swimmer! 


Speaking of Knox, he's making himself comfy all around our house these days...

More pond days...

And a special pedicure trip!!!  Both of you love getting your toes painted and this time you got hot pink with flowers!

This was a random night when you decided to make yourself look pregnant...
And, of course, your sister needed to do it too!
You and Ellie made brownies...
And we've started up soccer with Caroline on our team again!
One Sunday, Daddy, Mommy, you and Kate all went to the Science museum.  It was super yucky outside, so we got out and had a blast running around.  You, specifically, could not sit still so pictures were rather limited!


Even Daddy had fun!

Afterwards you begged for Pei Wei for dinner and man alive did you prove that you love it!
It was Pancake Day one day, so Mommy made homemade pancakes!
And while this picture doesn't show much, it reminds me that we had a FUN FUN FUN playdate/dinner at Lance's house.  His Mommy & Daddy hosted 6 different couples with 10 kiddos!  We had a ton of fun and you did NOT want to leave.  Lots of tears were shed when we left, and I'm sure the 10:00 time frame had a small part in that!
Katie Bug got a new bed and you showed her the proper way on breaking it in...
And we went with Ellie to see Aladdin, played by kiddos!  it was SOOOO good!
You thought Jasmine was so pretty!

And I was so proud of you getting your picture with the Genie and Aladdin!
One day, after a soccer game, we dropped in downtown Franklin for lunch and look who had just sat down!
They asked us to join them and what a fun, impromptu lunch!
Daddy decided to do some maintenance on the playground and you were thrilled to help him...

And you even insisted on having lunch outside!

Later that day, the whole gang came over to enjoy the beautiful weather and grill out!
While riding your bikes, you saw a hot air ballon and it happened to be taking off right at the church parking lot!!


You want to ride one so bad, but Mommy is just not comfortable with you and balloons.  Not yet at least...
Caroline (and family) popped in town one day during their spring break and met us at Goofballs.  Caroline hit it big with winning 500 tickets!  She was kind enough to share the tickets with you two and you got some fabulous prizes...
On our spring break, we ventured to Mimi's house for a few days.  We went Pump it Up with Clara Lee and John Michael and then a movie afterwards.

You also attended horse camp with Ellie while on Spring Break.  You got to paint a horse and even ride it by your self!
You want to go back, to say the least.  Daddy and Mommy went out of town on back to back weekends to help support our Vols during the basketball tournament, so Mimi got to hang out with you back to back weekends! The two of you had all kinds of adventures and I'm sure there are pictures to prove it!
When we finally got back home, it was Mommy's birthday so we celebrated it with style!
I chose an Indian restaurant for dinner and you loved it.  You did take a bite of Mommy's though and it was just a little too hot for you!

You also would NOT make a normal face!

So the weather this winter has been crazy with a capital CRAY.  This was in April.  APRIL!
One day after school (probably because Mommy was feeling guilty for leaving you for 2 straight weekends!), we went to the candy store.  You got your typical bag of candy...
But we also ventured to the ice cream side and got a chocolate milk shake.  Mimi was with us and could not believe you had never had a milk shake!
I think you liked it!
On one of those weekends when we were gone, Mimi took you to Ella's birthday party.  It was as Divas and Dudes, and, well, as you can imagine, it was a hit!!!
Look at you all dressed up!!! And apparently you all sang "Let it Go" while dressed to a T!
Speaking of Let it Go - OH. MY. GA - you AND your sister are so obsessed with Frozen.  We listen to it ALL. THE. TIME and everything is Elsa this or Elsa that.  Mimi was nice and surprised you with this picture frame of Elsa that she made!
You also went to Chloe's FROZEN birthday party with a shirt on that Mimi made you!  You got to ride with Ryan, too, because, yes, it was one of the many weekends we were gone!!
So this caught me up a little, or at least what I've taken pictures of!
We are busy as ever and having so much fun!
Love you!