cutest outfit?

As the weather is turning colder it is time to get out the jeans and sweatshirts. And at our house when you get out the jeans that means the girls get out their cowgirl boots, not to just wear when you ride horses but according to their dad to wear everyday. (Yes, deep down inside Bill is a cowboy, he wore boots everyday until the soles literally wore out.)

So Friday morning dad dressed Mikayla for the day and this was the outfit of choice. She is pretty darn cute I must admit! Bill could not let the day go by without taking her picture.

 And to quote Bill: "There is no dress in the world that is as cute as this outfit." Now I'm not sure I completely agree with that statement but she is one cute kid, no matter what she wears! And my girls do love  their boots, just their dad!

riding horses

 Jennifer has been asking for weeks and weeks to ride a horse. Finally Saturday afternoon we were able to go with our friend Roxann. I can not tell you the excitement Jennifer had about going. It is very fun to see her so excited about horses. 

Jennifer rode with Roxann for a while and then Bill hopped on to ride with Jennifer for a while.

 Mikayla is usually not all about riding horses so her and I walked around, followed behind the horses and just kind of hung out for a while. She had on her cowgirl boots too though, she looking pretty cute as a cowgirl. In the first picture she is following after the horse, signing horse.

 We did finally get Mikayla to sit on the horse! And she even rode for a little bit, she didn't love it but it was a great first step for her. She has a lot to learn from her sister about horses.

 Jennifer rode with Roxann on the brown horse named Beau for a while and then she rode on Skittles all by herself! She did great and was very excited to ride by herself. I love to watch her!

 And we tried for a cute picture of both the girls on the horse. Mikayla wasn't really having and well Skittles wasn't really having it either. This was as good as it got.

 Always cute to have a picture in a tractor tire!

 Kind of hard to see but after Jennifer was done riding Skittles she "lead" him around for a while. She has no fear! Oh the joy she has when she is around horses. 

 Jennifer already has plans to ride again. She was making plans with Roxann before we left about riding the horses and taking a picnic with them. They are going to go for a long ride. If you know Jennifer you know she always, always has a plan! When I picked her up from school yesterday her words for me were this : "I'm sorry mom but I can't go home, I better go ride." She would be there all day, everyday if she could! (Also, for those of you wondering I did ride Skittles as well and there is picture to prove it, it kept turning sideways whenever I tried to put it on here so, no picture, sorry!)

Pony ride

School is well underway and we are getting back into the routine that comes with the school year. Football games have started and the weather outside has been beautiful. I finally was putting pictures on the computer and realized I have lots of pictures to put on the blog! Don't worry I won't overwhelm you in one post I will try (try I say) to to do them over the course of a few days.

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago. I had actually forgotten about this until I saw the pictures and then I just had to smile! Bill and the girls were outside working in the garage and I was inside making lunch, when I looked outside this is what I saw:

 Kind of hard to see in the picture above so here is a better look. Jennifer riding a bike, pulling her pony. Oh the things she thinks of. She decided to do this all on her own but dad had to help a little bit to make sure that pony actually stayed connected to the bike!

This girl loves this pony! Thankfully yesterday she was able to actually ride a real horse! Pictures of that adventure to come...

preschool girl

Today was Mikayla's first day of preschool and let me tell you she was one excited little girl! She often wants to go to school too so when we were walking out the door her face was all smiles.

This picture is actually from last Thursday when we went for a visit to preschool.

 Here is today, the official first day of preschool. We didn't get a cute picture with a sign like we did with Jennifer but, surprise, we were trying to rush out the door and Mikayla really just wanted to leave, not have her picture taken! (Why is she squatting her wonder, because I was!)

 Jennifer of course needed in on the action too.

As we walked for the truck Mikayla was yelling, "Me, me!" Because she got to go too. Her preschool teacher said she had a good day and she didn't want to leave when I picked her up so I would say that is a good thing!

1st grade

Today it was back to school. Jennifer was very excited about going off to first grade. I must admit I am glad that she was so excited because I was not ready for today, I would have liked summer to last a few more weeks and it is just plan hard sending her back to school. Bill dropped her off and said she did great! So now I am just waiting for three o'clock so I can go get her and hear all about the first day! It is kind of quiet around here with just Mikayla home. We miss Jennifer!

All smiles before heading out the door. (Yes, we are trying to be crafty with the picture. We saw this idea on the internet and so thought we would give it a try. Jennifer is holding her picture from kindergarten and we will continue to have her hold her picture from the year before each school year. That way when she is senior in high school we will have a picture of her from every year in one picture! It will be fun if it works.)

 Mikayla was kind of sad to see Jennifer go this morning. Okay not sure if she was sad to see Jennifer go or if she was just sad that she wasn't going to school. Yesterday at Jennifer's conferences Mikayla walked around school saying, "Me, me." She is really excited about going to school. Tomorrow we go for a visit to preschool with Mikayla, she is very excited!

Happy First Day of School Everyone!

The Zoo

Our last trip on our weekend away was to the zoo. I have to admit I was pretty excited about going to the zoo, maybe more excited than the girls were!

Jennifer was pretty sure before we got to the zoo that she did not want to see a lion. Of course the first thing we see was a lion! Jennifer did well though, she actually thought it was okay to see.

 She even tried "roaring" at the lion to see if she would roar back. No such luck but she tried.

 Really the first thing Jennifer wanted to do was first on the Merry Go Round, better known as a Carousel to most. This was all Bill and the girls, me and things that go round don't get along too well so I was on for a quick picture and then off before it started. 

 Jennifer loved the ride!

 Mikayla was excited at first but then once it got going was not really liking it. This was her only ride for the day.

 Then we were on to the train, something else Jennifer was excited for. Again poor Mikayla getting dragged along on what her sister likes. Mikayla does not like loud noises and the train had a very loud whistle, so needless to say poor Mikayla did not like the train.

 Mikayla's favorite thing at the zoo you ask? It would probably be the gorilla. She walked around signing gorilla (which is really the sign for monkey) and saying, in her own way, gorilla, gorilla. And then she began growling at us. For the next several days after the zoo Mikayla was still growling and walking around saying "gorilla". 

 Loved seeing penguins! Jennifer loves the movie Popper's Penguins so it was very fun to get to see them up close.

 After a busy day seeing all the animals Jennifer needed one more ride on the Carousel. Mikayla was not about to go back on so she hung with me.

We had a great day at the zoo and then sadly it was time to return home. It was fun to enjoy a few days together before school starts once again.

Children's Museum

We started off Sunday morning by going to church together. That may seem like not a big deal to some but we rarely get to go to church as a family so for us it was a sweet thing! After some lunch we were off to the Children's Museum. So much to do, our girls had a great time!

There was a Wizard of Oz special exhibit that had lots of fun things to do.

 I don't remember what Jennifer was looking at here but I just love the big lab coat that she put on!

 Mikayla loved the bubbles. Once she spotted them from across the room she was off, running as fast as her little legs would go to get there.

 Love that the bubble wand is as big as she is.

 This was probably my favorite thing at the museum. A little grocery store. The girls both filled up a cart and then checked out. It was really cute.

 I have to admit I have no idea what this part was called but my girls loved it. Jennifer could have done this for hours. (There were balls everywhere and you put them in a tube and see where it goes.)

 There was also a pizza making spot. You could answer the phone and hear an order and then make the pizza.

 One last stop at the boat on our way out. 

What a fun way to spend the afternoon!