Since we didn't go swimming on Friday night, and I never coaxed Caitlyn to take a nap, we opted for a quick dinner out (this is a TREAT for us) followed by some popcorn & a short movie. We gave the girls two choices for dinner: Amigos Tacos or Outback. The decision was unanimous that we should go to 'Minos Tacos' for dinner.
We were rudely awakened in the middle of the night by the
ANNOYING sound of the fire alarm in our room
and the one in the hallway making a chirping noise followed by a loud voice saying "Low Battery"- repeating about every minute. I thought it was in my dreams, until Bill got out of bed to tried & disable it but when that didn't work, he asked where the batteries were. Too bad we didn't have the right kind on hand so we suffered through a few more hours until it woke up the girls. When they joined us in our bed, scared & confused about the noise, they were giggling non-stop at Caitlyn's interpretation of the 'voice'. "It's saying Li-Bary."
(*Please note: We've lived in our house for 3 years this weekend!! We've never changed the batteries in our smoke alarms. To prevent another un-necessary early morning, we changed the batteries in ALL of the smoke alarms this weekend.)
Needless to say, our Saturday morning started bright & early. The girls & I decided we should try out our new stroller. A little 'Fix-it Flat' and some air fixed 2 of the tires perfectly, but the other was still a little flat.
Bill & I realized that we haven't done anything fun with
just our family for a while. I had 2 free passes to the
Lied Discovery Children's Museum, so off we went. The featured exhibit right now is a Clifford exhibit, which our girls thought was fabulous! There were SO many cute things for the kids in the Clifford room. Each was clearly labeled so parents could help guide thier children appropriately through each 'house'.
{This guy greeted us in the foyer.}
{Madisen really enjoyed being the mail lady. She had letters in her pouch that were clearly labeled for Clifford's friends with their name & a picture of them. Then we went to each house figuring out which letter would go in each mailbox. On the left is the mail room where she collected the letters & on the right is where she is depositing a letter for Emily-Elizabeth.}
{Caitlyn is feeding Clifford by moving the bones from the bottom to the top where they dropped in his bowl.}
{After we left the Clifford room the girls were delighted to put on some dress-ups and perform for us on the stage.}
{While we were there, we were joined by a special visit from The Big Red Dog.}
From here we got to explore some water tables, some giant bubble makers, a grocery store, a car repair shop, an airport terminal & a climbing area. We found some friends from our ward & explored a few areas with them.
{Madisen with Caroline & Maya in the wind tunnel. She liked it so much that she had to take her sister back in to try it!}
Our plan after the museum was to get some slurpee's & have a picnic at a park where we could feed the ducks. We ended up eating our picnic in the car & drinking the slurpees on the way to the duck park. I forgot to get any pictures of the girls throwing their crust to the ducks. While we were there Caitlyn proclaimed with excitement, "The duckies like me!" Oh so true--- they did love that she was feeding them some homemade wheat bread with PB & sugar.
We had so much fun together! I love these 3 people more than anything else! It was fitting that at our Stake Conference today we got to hear President Monson- via satelite, of course. His entire talk was based on Doctrine & Covenants 109:8. "Organize yourselves;
aprepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a
bhouse of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of
corder, a
dhouse of God;" A perfect reminder to me of the realy important duties in life... getting my home & family in order!
{Posing before class.}
{Showing me where her star is.}
{Madisen is such a performer! Sadly the delay on my camera didn't allow me to capture her spunkiness in action.}
{Such grace!}
{Olivia, Meg, Anna, Olyvia, Bryanna, Madisen, Samantha}
The girls are showing off their green nail polish along with their completely green breakfast. Who says that green oatmeal & green pineapple aren't appetizing?
After Madisen got home from school we had some friends from our neighborhood over for a picnic/ party. In all of the excitement I didn't get many pictures, but we had a blast! We enjoyed: *biking* eating* playing pin your hat on the the leprechaun* and following leprechaun footprints to the backyard where they caused some mischief but left a pot of gold in the sandbox.
This may look like 'Mormon moms gone mad'- letting ALL of those kids ride their bikes in the street, but we did block it off with orange cones at each end. I was pleased b/c I also got the chance to talk to a few neighbors that I rarely see. (They were coming to check on us.)
We ended the day with a green dinner. We BBQ'd at Madisen's request & rounded out the meal with green napkins, green mashed potatoes, broccoli & green jell-o.
I love having a reason to make some days different & special! And I love having my girls to celebrate with!!
The girls felt 'pretty' after they got ready for a party this afternoon- Madisen especially wanted to show off her new shoes but they didn't hold still long enough for that. And they wanted to show off dad's gardening.
{This guy greeted us in the foyer.}
{Madisen really enjoyed being the mail lady. She had letters in her pouch that were clearly labeled for Clifford's friends with their name & a picture of them. Then we went to each house figuring out which letter would go in each mailbox. On the left is the mail room where she collected the letters & on the right is where she is depositing a letter for Emily-Elizabeth.}
{Caitlyn is feeding Clifford by moving the bones from the bottom to the top where they dropped in his bowl.}
{While we were there, we were joined by a special visit from The Big Red Dog.}
{Madisen with Caroline & Maya in the wind tunnel. She liked it so much that she had to take her sister back in to try it!}