On our little spring break getaway in College Station, we also visited the Children’s Museum. I didn’t even knew they had one, but they do-it’s pretty small, but the kids still had fun!
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| the kids got to walk on the ceiling 😉 |
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| play “grocery store” |
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| climb into a rocket ship and get on “TV” |
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| James attempted to teach them checkers |
Sunset at the Octaranch.
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Bathtime for Asher!
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James took a couple days off and we went to College Station to take the kids to the Texas A&M campus. James and I walked the kids around and we showed them where we lived, our classes, our first kiss…it was so fun and a beautiful day!
First stop, to visit the Bonfire Memorial.
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| Both James and I had never been to the Memorial, but we both were in school
when it collapsed on Nov. 18, 1999 |
We went to the southside where we showed them my dorm:
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and daddy’s dorm across the way
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| southside commons |
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| Dunn |
Then we went inside to the Commons lobby and showed the kids something very important to James and I-the ping pong tables. These tables are where our relationship started…long talks were held in this very room, getting to know each other…
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| James showing the kids how he played ping pong and lost to mommy a lot! 😉 |
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| class of 2026 |
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| class of 2028 |
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| class of 2030 |
No campus tour is complete without visiting Heldenfels. We both took classes in there and James was an supplemental instructor (SI) for many Chem 101 classes. We went inside the classroom to show the kids what college is really like. Rilyn asked if my teacher would remember me. 😉
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| pretending to be students in class |
We walked this route many times…
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| Academic building in background |
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I did the best I could with this picture…it was waaaaay sunny and the fountain was drained, but here is Fish Pond, the site of James and I’s first kiss.
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All Faiths Chapel, where we went to Upstream every Thursday night. Many lifetime friendships were formed here, the Spirit moving in ways we could have never imagined…
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| Kyle field |
This is new in front of the “ring building”
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| future Aggie ring wearers |
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Ella took this picture-not too bad!
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| class of 2001 |
Ella swinging away on our “boat swing” as we call it.
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| rilyn |
It was the girls’ idea to throw balls in the air when I told them I was trying to practice taking pictures of objects in motion (with some drag or blur) and keep other objects in focus. Here’s what they did!
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| Girls in focus, balls-not. |
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I was itching to take some photographs today.
I was searching around in my pantry for a snack and I found a big lollipop!
I know these are two random facts that seemingly have nothing to do with each other, but I have always been wanting to take pictures with a big lollipop, (is this strange?) and I totally forgot that I had one in there! Never mind that the lollipop was almost 2 years old, (from Disneyland in April 2009!). I was going to use it, (because once an idea is in my head, I want to do it asap!), and anyway, the girls wouldn’t notice! Besides, I wouldn’t actually let them bite it, just pics of licks! 😉
I had a little fun editing these because James isn’t home tonight and I have some time on my hands while I’m waiting for the Oscars so I can watch it without commercials!
Enjoy!
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| my fav pic of rilyn |
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| I love color |
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| and flowers in hair |
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| and color coordinating dresses to match lollipops |
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| and color coordinating earrings too! |
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| Having girls is sweet, |
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| almost as sweet |
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| as a giant lollipop! |
Ella did it. She learned (and I use that term loosely because she is still not 100% confident) how to ride a two wheel bike without training wheels before Rilyn. Does this surprise me? No. Ella has always been inclined to be more active and physically aggressive. Rilyn got a Hello Kitty Razor scooter for Christmas and is perfectly content riding that around the neighborhood. She has no interest in learning how to ride a bike, but I have a feeling the time will come sooner rather than later. James doesn’t work on Fridays this semester, (because he works on Sundays), and so he took the afternoon to teach Ella how to ride without the training wheels. She did a great job for her first time and I’m pretty sure she will be riding without care by next month.
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| freaked out face from daddy letting go |
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| I just love the faces she makes! |
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| go girl! |
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| feeling more confident |
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| Yay! |
Here is a short video James put together for me of her riding.
What 5 year old doesn’t like to jump off the swing in mid-air?!?
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| Ella flying high off our swing set! |
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| I like how she resembles the swing in free form fall |
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| I call this picture “oh crap, I’m going to land bad!” 😉 |
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| super girl! |
Valentine’s Day was celebrated here in grandious style! James and I went out on Friday night to the Cheesecake Factory, (I am a simple girl with simple tastebuds, and I like to go to restaurants where I know that I will LOVE the menu, especially the dessert menu!) I got 2 bouquets of flowers, chocolate dipped strawberries, brownies, and cookies from Tiff’s Treats (which are my favorite), and a boatload of scrapbooking stuff from my momma! James took the girls out to IHOP last night for a sweetheart dinner (or rather breakfast!)
Here is Rilyn at her school Valentine party. She is at the age where she gets excited about every Valentine. It’s cute to watch!
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| Ella loves to come to Rilyn’s school parties! |
We went to my mom’s on Sunday afternoon for a Valentine dinner. She always outdoes herself for any holiday, and this year was no exception! My kids are very blessed indeed!
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| Valentine gifts from grandma (cousin Caden far left) |
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| Valentine treats galore! |
Asher asks, “Will YOU be my Valentine PLEASE?!?”
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| Asher resorting to use the “pick off petals from a flower to tell you the answer” trick |
How is a brotha’ supposed to choose between these two?!? 😉
It’s so sweet to see Ella start trying to write on her own. Today she came up to me with a Valentine for me. At first look, I thought she loved BLT sandwiches…
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| Ella’s Valentine for mommy |
She told me it said, “You are my Valentine.” Oh, of course! U (you) R (are) M (my) BLT (“BaLenTine” as Ella would say in her little speech impediment.)
This girl loves to create these days. This morning our plans got canceled due to icy conditions, so she locked herself in her room and created this:
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| “It’s Banana Girl!” Ella told me proudly. |
And on Monday, she was feeling like a fashion designer apparently because she created this on our kitchen counter:
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| She said these were “shirts with hearts on them” she designed and wanted to
tape them all up to the counter for Rilyn to pick one when she got home from school. (These could be considered pretty provocative halter tops if you ask me!) 😉 |
Last February we had one, so it looks like this may become an annual tradition! 😉 Last year the snow fell during the day, and this time, it snowed while we all were asleep. The kids loved waking up to a winter wonderland outside! I estimate 2 inches maybe? Schools were closed today so it truly is a ‘snow day!’ Sadly, it is already melting outside from the sun, but Ella and Asher just can’t get enough of it. They are in the backyard right now savoring every last ‘flake’.
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| our car windshield |
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| joy |
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| our street this morning |
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| gotta make the snow angel in the driveway! |
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| Asher with mommy’s gloves on |
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| get ready to blow… |
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| SNOW!!!!!!! |
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| fun to throw |
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| ella |
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| Asher gets in on the fun of throwing snow |
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| The kids got these snow shoes for Christmas from Oma. |
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| They make bigfoot prints |
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| and Ella loved them! |
the paquettes 