my cowgirl

Jennifer loves horses, I mean the girl loves horses. She really is a cowgirl. I must admit I'm not sure where she gets it because there is no way I am even close to a cowgirl. She must get it from her dad, who I think deep down inside is a cowboy. Yesterday, after watching a movie about a horse, Jennifer was insistent that she see a horse. It was all she talked about all afternoon and as soon as Bill walked in the door it was the first thing she told him. "Dad, me and you are going to go to a farm and see a horse." Well Bill had to come up with something. Our friends who use to let Jennifer ride with them got rid of their horses. Then remembered Troy & Dara, they have horses. So he gave them a call and of course they said we could come over. Our intent was only to go look at the horses, however Jennifer was certain she needed to ride and so ride she did!

This horses, George, was seriously just her size. She is pretty darn cute on him!

 Mikayla kept signing horse and acted several times like she wanted to ride too but we tried twice to get her on with Jennifer and she wanted nothing to do with it. She loved just walking around exploring.

 George was good enough for a while but then Jennifer thought she needed to ride a bigger horse. The Jaeger's have several horses at their place and if we would have let her Jennifer would have ridden each and every one of them. She wanted to ride by herself, then she wanted to have Dara ride with her, she wanted to go faster and she spotted some things that looked like they should be used for jumping and she wanted to jump with the horse too! The girl had lots of ideas and plans.

 And Jennifer thought dad should ride as well. But by this time Rocket was a little tired and didn't want to go anymore. So dad and Mikayla just sat on the horse with Jennifer. Mikayla was not to sure about even just sitting on the horse, with her dad right there. It may take her a while before she is a cowgirl like her sister.

By the time we were done and getting ready to head home Jennifer was pretty sure she was going to stay with Troy & Dara. Fairly certain she would live there, if she could ride everyday! Thanks to the Jaeger's for letting us come ride their horses and loving on our girls, they both had a great time!

party time!

Yesterday we had our families here for a birthday party for the girls. Jennifer could not have been more excited to see her family and celebrate her birthday. Mikayla didn't know what was happening at first but she was very excited to see everyone and she kind of got into her presents, which was very cute.

We borrowed a small bounce house from some friends for the kids to play in. Mikayla thought this spot was just right for her. She didn't have to be right where the crazy kids were jumping.

Our girls are most definitely spoiled. They were very excited about all their birthday presents. 

 Jennifer of course could not open her presents fast enough and Mikayla just wanted to walk around and show her stuff to everyone. We think she kind of relishes the fact that she can now walk around, it was pretty cute to watch her.

 Showing off a present.

 Jennifer was pretty excited about all her gifts. So excited in fact that there was even some jumping up and down!

 More jumping up and down!

 One of the presents the girls got was a merry-go-round for the back yard. Jennifer loves spinning things so she was very excited about this. Here she is "helping" put it together.

 Dad and Jennifer trying out the new merry-go-round. Very nice because she is able to make herself go, maybe nicer for us so we don't have to stand and push her for hours!

 Everyone trying it out together.

 Mikayla enjoying a cupcake (while saying "cheese"). 

 My two beautiful birthday girls!

We had a very fun day with our families here. The girls were exhausted at the end of the day after having so much birthday fun!

summer vacation is here!

Friday was the last day of kindergarten for Jennifer. So I guess that makes today the first official day of summer vacation! We have counting down the days at our house. We are ready for summer, ready to have Jennifer home every day! After taking Mikayla to therapy this morning it was the perfect afternoon to be outside. What a great start to summer vacation.

Really hard to believe that Jennifer is seven and all done with kindergarten. She is growing too fast!

 This is a great picture of Mikayla because it includes two of her favorite things right now. First of all swinging. I swear the girl could swing for hours on end, she loves it right now. In fact last night as we were working on the swing set and I think she did swing for an hour straight. We offered several times to take her out. Each time we asked she would shake her head and say no. Then ask for a "sh", or a push.

 And she is holding her baby. She carries this baby around all the time. She gives her kisses, wraps her up in a blanket, puts her to bed and now takes her outside. It is very sweet to watch her.

Over the weekend we started doing some work on our swing-set. Of course the girls thought they needed to help dad. Very sweet!

 Love this picture. It looks as if Mikayla is saying "Excuse me dad but what are you doing"

Now that summer vacation is underway we just have to wait for the pool to open. Jennifer was fairly certain that the minute she was done with school the pool would or maybe should have been especially for her, open!

a new bike

Over the weekend Jennifer got to pick out a birthday present from mama and papa. It was a new bike! She was one very excited girl to get to pick out a new bike. There was a lot of looking and deciding which one would be the best and this is the one that everyone decided on. We got the bike Friday night and by the time we got home it was too late to go for a ride. So here we are Saturday morning ready for the first "real" ride.

She was very excited to hop on and get riding.

 There is a basket on the front, very cute. Bill and I were laughing about all the things that may end up in the this basket. Right now there is a pencil case with some colors and markers in it and a pad of paper. You never know when you might need to stop while riding your bike and write a few notes!

 She is pretty cute on her new bike!

 Mikayla was not about to be left out of the action. So she climbed on her little "bike" and headed down the driveway as well. Very cute to watch her go.

And she's 7!

 In case it wasn't written on your calendar or if you didn't see Jennifer so she could remind you, in case you missed it, today was indeed Jennifer's birthday. The excitement she had today for her birthday still makes me smile. Jennifer woke up this morning ready for the day, ready for her 7th birthday.
Last night after Jennifer went to bed we wrapped her presents and set out balloons so that when she got up this morning her birthday would truly be underway. She could not contain her excitement when she saw all her "stuff". We let her open one present this morning.

Some new hair stuff, she was asking Bill for these on the way to school the other day so she was very excited to get some of her very own. 

 Fingernail polish, purple of course. After school we tried to paint her nails, which she was very excited about, we got her fingernails but only one set of toenails. Too much excitement to finish the other I guess.

 A new Bible! Love that she was so very excited about this. 

 A birthday isn't complete without balloons.

 After opening her present it was time for a special birthday breakfast, donuts!

 Mikayla helped me make Jennifer's birthday cupcakes today. She was loving it! Usually Jennifer dominates the cooking time so Mikayla thought it was great to do everything. She really did get into it, maybe a little too much but I loved it too.

 Jennifer has been loving "longer dresses" lately. So she got two new "longer dresses", she was very excited about them. Why they are called longer dresses you ask? I have no idea but all dresses are called longer dresses.

 A new kite, kite rider shall ride again!

 Another "longer dress".

 A new baseball glove and ball. This was what dad wanted to get her so they could play catch in the yard. Although she didn't really know what it was at first she was very excited about it!

 Trying out the new ball and glove. Getting a few instructions from dad.

 Check out the stance or maybe you were caught up in the outfit. Cowgirl boots go with anything right? And not only do they go with anything, they can be worn for anything, including playing a little catch in the backyard.

 Jennifer loves to sing "Happy Birthday", I'm fairly certain she sang it to herself about ten times today. So she really loved it when it is time for cupcakes so we can sing to her.

 Gotta love that smile!

 We went out for supper with some friends to celebrate Jennifer's birthday, which she was very excited about. We had a few unexpected friends join us as well, it was a great evening! They brought out a hat and sang to Jennifer, as you can see by her smile she loved it!

Mikayla really wanted to try the hat on as well, soon it will be her turn for the "Happy Birthday" song!

Jennifer had a great birthday! As I think about it we are truly blessed by so many people who care for her. Presents, cards, phone calls, she was spoiled today for sure!
Happy 7th Birthday Jennifer! Thanks for all the smiles today.