A love of teaching...

I think someone is destined to be a teacher when she grows up! She LOVES teaching Nathan things that she learns at school. And she even loves teaching all her stuffed animals. :)

Birthday party fun...

We were invited to Andrew's 4th birthday party this morning, and Nathan had a blast. This kid doesn't stop - he loves bounce houses!!

Nathan and the birthday boy!

He LOVES air hockey, and has gotten pretty good at it!

Singing "happy birthday" to Andrew. He loves wearing his little birthday hat - and is actually STILL wearing it!

It was a fun Friday morning....friends, cupcakes and lots of bouncing! That's Nathan's perfect day.

'A' Honor Roll!

Straight A's...another six weeks down. I'm proud of my smart girl!

Nature day!

Madison was off school today, and we had Katie and Grace all day, so we met up with Kayla and Kyle and had a nature-filled day. We went to Arbor Hills Nature Preserve in Plano, and it was really nice (and free)! It was a bit windy today, but the kids had a great time running wild, giggling and acting silly with their friends!

Nathan and Kyle acting like frogs...

Being silly with Kyle...they were having so much fun together today!

It was nice getting outside today, even though the wind was obnoxious! We had a great time just hanging out with friends on our day off school!

Cousins + a bubble bath = pure happiness!

Sweet friends and a fun night!

We went to the Cinderella ballet with Madison's Girl Scout troop (some of them) last night, and we had a lot of fun! We headed up to McDonald's for some dinner first and then to the ballet! These girls are too cute together...such sweet little girlfriends. They had a few minutes to play before we left, and I caught them being such girlie girls on her new papasan chair.

They love each other!

They were trying to mimic the statue, and thought they were pretty funny!

This year, we got to sit in the balcony, and they loved that!

My only no-flash picture I was able to take...I snuck this one in! The colors were beautiful though....and these dancers were amazing!

The girls HAD to get autographs, so we stayed awhile for that. We were almost the last ones there, and got to get a picture with some of the "stars"!

It was cold outside, so they decided to share Madison's coat!

And I forgot to get a picture of them before bed last night, so here are the sleepyheads this morning. They were up past 11:00, and weren't all that excited about waking up this morning!

They had a great time together, and I loved hearing all the giggles between them. It's so neat to see how their friendship has grown this past couple of years. I love little friendships at this age!

Cousin fun....

We had Chance this morning, and the boys had a great time together! I had forgotten just how much of a mess 2 year olds can make...and Nathan said, "Mommy, he wants EVERYTHING!" That made me laugh! I told him that he was just like this 2 years ago!! Very small attention span = a lot of toys being brought out! But his cuteness made up for any mess he made...he's got such personality!

Chance finished his breakfast over here, while Nathan begged me for a bag of fruit snacks. He had to eat "with him".

Nathan loved showing Chance his toys!

And they had a blast outside riding in the car and kicking ball!

It was really neat seeing them interact together and have so much fun. I love that they love each other so much!

Fishing!

We aren't a fishing family, and we don't know much about fishing, but we decided to give it a try today! It's the last day of our holiday vacation, so we wanted to do something fun as a family. We went out and bought a regular fishing pole, a cane pole, and a jigging pole (not real sure how you spell that)! We invited Taylor over, and headed out to a nearby pond. It was a little colder than we thought, and we didn't catch a single fish, but it was still a fun experience. The kids loved being outside, and we even got to feed the ducks while we were there!

Madison was actually brave and touched the worms! Nathan wanted to, but we ended up leaving a little earlier than we thought because of the cold, so he never had a chance! Next time though.

Nathan had so much fun running around and making the worm swim back and forth in the water. We might have been a little too spastic for the fish today, but hey, we had fun! Madison, on the other hand, didn't enjoy fishing quite as much. It wasn't all she thought it would be, but she still had a good time being outside!

I'm sad our break is over, but I think the kids are both ready to get back to school and see their friends. We had lots of family time, which was really nice, and we all loved having Michael home for over a week! Back to reality though. I'm glad we were able to end our break with some quality family time - and a first fishing trip for the kids! Maybe next time we'll catch a fish!