Face Painting Maniacs

My mom was here two weeks ago helping me with my recovery from surgery and she saw this picture of the girls on my desktop. She loved it and wanted me to post it on my blog so here it is. This was taken in April at the Asparagus Festival in Stockton. Haley LOVES having her face painted and she always gets a butterfly face painting. The painter convinced us to do a full face painting rather than just on the cheek. Here's the result. Lauren wanted a ladybug.

Fun Random Pictures

Do you remember the joy of boxes?

Our Arabian Princess

I'm a close relative to Pig Pen

I just like this picture of two of my most favorite people

Tub play time! Do you like our lollipops?

Daddy and the girls collecting squash from our garden

Check out this squash!!!!

Haley and Lauren LOVE Haley's new BIG, BIG girl bed!

Lauren's 2nd Birthday

Lauren with her Pooh cake

Lauren, Jasmine, and Micah are being creative

Uncle Tom slept through most of Lauren's party. He was VERY tired!

We couldn't pass up this balloon!

Lauren trying to show two fingers

Erik (our cousin) showing two fingers

Haley is attempting to show two fingers

Daddy showing two fingers

Lauren had two second birthday celebrations. The first was an after dinner cake celebration on her actual birthday (June 14th) with Grandma Lynne and Erik. The second was a big family celebration on the following weekend. Her theme was Winnie the Pooh for the big party. All of her cousins were invited to the house to celebrate and play games. We all had a great time. The kids enjoyed swimming in the pool the most. The little ones loved coloring on the brick wall with chalk.

Hooray for Summer!!!

Play time in our pool

Haley riding her new princess bike

I'm cool as a cucumber

Am I supposed to wear these or just look cute in them?

A play date with the Nelson children. In this picture is my friend Lisa with Erin's children Jackson and Olivia and the Shuford girls. Derek (Olivia's twin) is the only child not in the picture.

I know that it has been a while since I last posted so I'll create several posts to make up for lost time. The girls and I are enjoying our summer together. Haley and Lauren love having me at home and I love being home with them. It is one of the perks of teaching : ) Haley just went to Vacation Bible Retreat last week and had a wonderful time learning bible verses that incorporated the theme for the week: Children of the Light. Haley came home singing new songs and full of excitement. She told me all about the bible stories and showed me all of her arts and crafts every day. Lauren and I joined her for mass every morning and we stayed all day (8 to 11:30) with her for two of the days. Haley is also taking swimming lessons in the afternoon for two weeks. She feels like such a big girl because she gets to do things that sissy is too little to do. Other than that we've been spending lots of time at the library, the park, and our pool. The girls are participating in the summer reading club at the library so every time they read for seven nights they get to choose a goody from the treasure box at the library. Daddy has been busy working but he gets to have fun with us girls on the weekends. Poor daddy!

Haley's 4th Birthday

Haley and Ariel

Isaiah is ready to attack!

Lauren had to get a few hits in too.

CANDY, CANDY, CANDY!!!!

Haley's BIG cousin Alorah got to practice her perfect bat stance!

We celebrated Haley's fourth birthday party last weekend at a place called Gymnastics Unlimited. She invited all of her cousins and two friends. The children had a great time jumping around, during somersaults, and swinging on the rings. Haley had a Barbie Princess cake. After the festivities at the gym, the Williams cousins and cousin Mikayla along with their mommies Aunt Tez and Aunt Nicole, came over to our house to swim and break open Haley's Ariel pinata.

The pinata was a wonderful surprise from one of the ladies that works on Dennis's team at Frito-Lay. She had asked Dennis about Haley's birth date two weeks prior and mentioned that she was making pinatas. Dennis forgot about the conversation and didn't mention it to me. He arrived at work on the Friday before Haley's birthday and was told that he had a pinata waiting for him in his office cubicle. I got home and was pleasantly surprised by a gorgeous handmade pinata. Haley was over the moon because she had been asking for a pinata but we were not going to get one this year because we were going to the gym. Thank goodness Haley's cousins came over after the party to break open Ariel because she was tough to crack open!

Spring is Sprung!!!!

The girls in their Easter dresses

Haley's work of art

Lauren's lovin' this Easter egg tradition

Our Easter bunny prefers the color pink

Lauren and her cousin Lainie had fun with chalk grafitti on Easter Sunday

We had a wonderful time with my parents and the Williams family (my sister Tezra's family) on Easter Sunday. Haley and Lauren think that any activity that involves their cousins is 100 times more fun! They loved finding eggs, riding bikes down the driveway, drawing with chalk on the backyard wall, and eating candy all afternoon with their cousins Alorah, Isaiah, Alaina, and Micah. Of course, after eating candy all afternoon, none of the kids were hungry by the time the ham dinner was ready but that's what holidays are all about. We were all sad to say goodbye to my parents and the Williams family. I'm so looking forward to my summer break so that we can spend more time with family.

Newest Professional Pictures of the Girls

My daycare provider has a company come to the daycare every year in January and take professional photos of the girls. I love it because I get yearly photos of the girls that I can hang on the wall and share with family and friends. It also saves me the hassle of going to a studio to get good pics of the girls. So, here are the latest pictures. I love Lauren's expression in the photo with both of the girls. It looks like she is saying, "Why are you touching me?".