Dress Up

Here are a few pictures of Ally the last few weeks. Honestly, I could have included a lot more pictures but you get the idea:). This is her very favorite thing to do these days, and she's quite creative! Ryan's Mickey Mouse Hat is one of her standbys.

This is Ryan's ski helmet on backwards and her "super Ally" cape!

Tea anyone? This is a question that we get asked a LOT. She'll say, "comin' right up!"

We are leaving for Keystone, CO in the morning and I would really love your prayers. Mark and I both enjoy vacations once we're there. Neither one of us love to fly, so there's definitely anxiety where that's concerned. Our last flight was pretty rough coming back from Mexico. All you need to know is a lot of turbulence, vomiting passengers and our flight attendant had the flu! For the Wood germaphobes that was like our worst nightmare. We survived then and I'm sure we will again, but pray anyway:). We are also leaving Ally, so that's hard. If you could pray for our safety and health that would mean a lot to us. I will be posting a lot of pictures when we get back next week. Have a great week!

Happy Birthday Nana!

We love you so much Nana and we wish we were in Lubbock right now to give you a BIG hug and a kiss. Ryan's note says We love you Nana, Ryan and Ally. And Ally wrote you an very special birthday message on one of Mark's fax cover sheets:). I hope you have a wonderful Birthday! We miss you.

XOXOXOX

Pink Bear and Bat Bear

Mark made it back home safe and sound and boy were we happy to see him, especially me:). He decided to treat the kids to Build-A-Bear. They have been wanting to go there since it opened, so they were beyond thrilled. We were the only people in the store so it was perfect. Here's little Ally trying to decide which bear to love. (Note her red shoes)

Ryan took about .5 seconds to pick his black bear. He was way more interested in choosing the Bear's clothes. Bath time first of course.

Mark helping Ally give her bear a bath.

Ally picked out the exact same shoes for "pink bear". She LOVES this new bear and sleeps with her every night.

Meet Bat Bear...and his happy owner

Thank you Mark for being so spontaneous and fun. I am so glad that you are home!

My baby's getting so big!

Yesterday was Ally's MDO day and when I picked her up her sweet teachers told me that she didn't nap. This happens every once in a while, and yesterday I was thrilled because Mark has been out of town the last few days and I thought that she would just take a late nap at home and I could get caught up on my Bible study. I thought that was a great plan, she did not. After a lot of screaming I decided to just give her a bath and forgo the nap. Well, after bath she told me that she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed. I thought yeah right, but anything to stop the tears. We have had a full size bed in Ally's room since she was born so it's always been available but until yesterday she had absolutely no interest. After 10 minutes I went in to find her like this!!!

Peacefully asleep in her big girl bed:)

For some reason this really caught me off guard and I was a little sad. I know it's silly but this is after all my BABY! After she woke up she was so excited about her big girl accomplishment, we just had to have a little pedicure. She picked out my favorite color, OPI's Aphrodite's Pink Nightie, to match her nightie:)

I just LOVE those little chubby feet!

Admiring her pedicure

"Mommy can I ride my bike with pink toes?" "It won't come off?" She was so cute prancing around last night making sure her toes were still painted. Ya'll my baby is growing up!

She asked to sleep in her big girl bed again last night and slept all night long right in the middle of the bed. I guess since it was her idea that's just what we do now. Thanks for taking the pressure off of Mommy to make that decision, I am just so proud of you Ally!

Happy Valentine's Day!

What a fun day! I just love Valentine's Day. I love the colors, the decorations (especially at Target), the parties, the date night and the joy on my children's faces. We have had a really fun week this week. (Maybe because mommy is not totally preoccupied with A Taste of Honey?!?) Mark and I enjoyed a date at home last night, which I must say was really, really nice. We took the kids to childcare at church and then ate takeout from One-Thirty-Five Prime. We are really never here without our children, so it was a nice change. I would highly recommend it! No wait, great food and the house all to yourself:). Here are some pictures of the week.

Ally was showing me her 'bee mine' shirt from Honey and GP. She kept saying, "Mommy look there's a bee!"

Ryan was also sporting a new Valentine shirt from GP and Honey. I love him in a clean collared shirt:)

Ryan's Party in Mrs. Dunlap's class. This week they learned a lot about the history of Valentine's Day and that it is a day to celebrate friendship as well. I sure have learned a LOT from my 5 year-old son this year. In this picture Ryan is smiling his real smile, which has to be caught quick, and he is enjoying Nacho Cheese Doritos and a ice cream sunday. It really doesn't get much better than that.

The whole class

Honey and Ryan at school. It's hard getting a hug from Ryan, but Honey can always make it happen. She'll just chase him down until he gives in. (I think he secretly LOVES that game!)

Me and my favorite little guy. OH MY, Look who got a highlight! A very special Valentine treat to myself.

This morning we had a sugar filled fiesta. Shipley's followed by candy. AWESOME! Thanks Aunt Kacey for these treats, they were a hit! Ally got a new Elmo video that we had to watch immediately.

Ryan got...you guessed it a new LEGO.

Every year my sisters and I got a special treat from my dad, so I suggested that Mark start getting something special for Ally. This is her treasured gift, a Mylar balloon. You would have thought we saw Mickey Mouse in person, she was that excited!

If we could just all be that joyful!!! I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

A Little Love

After bath the other night we sat down to organize Ryan's Valentine cards for his class. This year he chose Star Wars cards but it was a close call between those and Lego Valentines...they actually make Lego City Valentine cards, I was shocked! He sat down and carefully wrote out each child's name and signed his name using just my special pen (a small sharpie). He had a little helper who just couldn't stay away, so she got to decorate some Valentine cards for the family. Pretty sweet:)

One cute valentine!

A Taste of Honey

Thank you so much for your prayers:) I know that it was only through the Lord's provision that A Taste of Honey actually happened!!! It went GREAT. We had a lot of help the 48 hours leading up to Friday night, so a huge thank you to all of you who helped Heather and I pull this off:) It was a really fun time for the whole family and we were able to raise over $13,000 for the school. FWCS is such an amazing school and I feel extremely blessed that Ryan gets to attend school there every day. Here are some pictures of the event.

Decorations

All of the desserts were donated from local businesses. We had over 25 different restaurants and caterers provide delicious treats for everyone. The chocolate fountain was a hit!

The Silent Auction set up. We were so fortunate to have 136 items to auction off to the highest bidder this year. It was a lot of work but it was fun.

Our art teacher, Jennifer Barnett, took a class picture of each class dressed in "cowboy gear" and they turned out absolutely precious.

Each teacher also created a teacher/student activity that you could bid on. So cute!!!

Here are the class baskets. Each class was assigned a different theme and students brought items to fill each basket. The teachers were in charge of organizing this and they turned out awesome!

I wish I had an audio recording of the class performances, they were simply priceless. The kids were singing their little hearts out for the Lord!

My favorite student! Ryan did not sing, but he did occasionally move his mouth. He said that he was "talking the words" not singing. Where does he get this stuff?

My sisters were both here and helped a TON! Sorry Caryn I don't have a picture of you to post. But I can tell you that the Waco Trib was in attendance so go to www.wacotrib.com and click on slide show to see a great picture of Caryn and StaceyIII. :-)

550 plus in attendance

And here is my favorite picture (minus the blood-shot eyes and the obvious need for a hair highlight). Heather and I literally worked so hard on this event that our bones hurt on Saturday. She is such a great friend and there is no way that I could have done this without you, so THANK YOU!!! There were several disasters that went along with planning this party and she was just so calm and cool under pressure. It was really amazing to watch. Thanks for being so supportive of me and everything you do for the school. Love you!

This Makes Me Happy

So this month has been exceptionally crazy for me and today I just needed to remind myself of my happy place! Seeing their smiling faces always eases my anxious mind. I am in charge of the annual fundraiser at First Woodway Christian School, and it has been a little rough getting all of this organized. The event is called A Taste of Honey it is Friday night at 7:00. My great friend Heather B. and I have literally been working like mad women to get this thing organized. You know how I love to throw a good party but dessert and drinks for 600, plus a silent auction may have been a little more than I can handle:). Please say a little prayer for me and my family that things go smoothly the next few days. Friday will be here soon!!