Fun Fridays with Anais

After a LONG drought of missing her best friend, Kaitlynn was over-the-moon excited to be invited to spend the day with Anais recently. Kaitlynn and Anais have been best friends with such a strong connection from the time they were 18 months old -- such babies! And now these big girls love each other more than ever and enjoy every second they have together. It has been harder to get together since we moved to Katy, but we sure make every effort because this friendship is just so special.

Anais and her mom, Keri, took Kaitlynn out for an incredibly fun day while I was attending Connor's Fun Run at his school. The girls started out at Chuck E. Cheese for some games and pizza, then attended their weekly reading class. After that, they picked up Anais's younger siblings at preschool where Kaitlynn was able to say hello to her former teachers and classmates at Foundry. Then they went back to Anais's house for a long afternoon of playtime followed by a fun dinner. I couldn't believe all of the fun that they managed to pack into a single afternoon. It was no surprise to me that Kaitlynn didn't want to come home! Here's a recap of their Fun Friday together in pictures from Keri:

Kaitlynn loves riding in other peoples' cars.

Chuck E Cheese pizza for lunch.

Enjoying the rides and games with their tokens.

Back at Anais's house, they enjoyed some TV time with Anais's sister, Amelia.

Time to play outside.

In the backyard playhouse.

This picture cracked me up. They look like little old women, enjoying a nice chat outside in their lawn chairs.

Dress-up time! No girls' playdate is complete without princess costumes!

And a tea party is also always on the agenda.

Anais taught Kaitlynn how to play Guess Who?

Time for some playtime with dolls.

Oh my, Kaitlynn is SO in love with her best friend. Look at that face! LOL!

Posing before dinner; Kaitlynn couldn't contain her excitement!

After such a fun Friday with Keri and Anais, we wanted to return the favor by inviting Anais for a sleepover. We tried to have her over last fall but it seemed like someone in our families was always sick. Thankfully, this time everyone was perfectly healthy and the girls were super excited to spend the night together. This was the first time Anais had visited Kaitlynn in her Katy house, so the girls had lots to do and explore. Here are some pictures from their fun sleepover:

Oh my goodness, these girls were SO excited for their sleepover!

Finally at Kaitlynn's house, let the fun begin!

What's first? Princess dress-up, of course!

They gave me a little performance, ha!

Enjoying a Nutella snack outside on a beautiful day.

We enjoyed a frozen yogurt treat after dinner.

Their eyes ended up being bigger than their tummies, ha!

Right before bedtime, we had some very sleepy girls!

Sweet smiles.

Jeff made the girls a big pallet in Kaitlynn's bedroom. So comfy and the girls slept great.

Donuts for breakfast!

Playing in their pajamas after breakfast. By the destruction of the playroom, I'd say it was a successful sleepover, ha!

We are so blessed by the friendship with these two sweet girls! I know the older they get, it will be harder and harder to get together. But seeing how much Kaitlynn and Anais love each other, I have a feeling we have a lot more Fun Fridays in our future!

Cowgirl Cutie

We didn't make it to the Houston Rodeo this year, but that didn't stop us from pulling out our favorite Western wear for the rodeo activities at school. Kaitlynn was SO excited to wear her cowgirl hat, belt, and boots and was quite the model strutting her stuff. I think I may have died a little from all the cuteness, oh my!!

She sure knows how to rock that cowgirl gear! All the girls in her class had so much fun in all of their Western cuteness. They even learned how to country dance at school. We may have to find a way to work these accessories into Kaitlynn's wardrobe rotation. Love!

Kaitlynn and her classmate Kennedy during Western week. Love these girls!

Updates from WoodCreek

Connor came home one day last month talking about how his class at school was getting a new student. It reminded me of when Connor was the new kid at WoodCreek this time last year. And then I realized... that was exactly one year ago! My how time flies! When I think back to that hectic time of 3-4 hour daily commutes to get Connor to school, I wonder how we ever survived.

The February-March timeframe in the Houston area always means one thing: Rodeo time! Usually the kids and I get all dressed up in our Western gear and happily attend many of the rodeo events around time. This year, Connor didn't seem to want anything to do with it, and I had to admit I agreed. Connor reluctantly participated in Western day at school, but this year his rodeo shirt and belt buckle were accompanied by sneakers and skinny jeans. Ha!

Another fun activity that happens in February at WoodCreek is the annual Fun Run. It's a big fundraiser for the school where the kids seek pledges and then run laps to earn money. The entire week of the Fun Run is packed with high energy and excitement as Captain Awesome and his crew get the kids pumped up for the big event. This year, the run was moved to the gym due to wet weather, but we still had so much fun cheering on the kids as they ran. By the end, all of the kids were red-faced and sweaty. They earned their money!

Lined up and ready to run.

Connor was pumped and ready to go with his armband.

The kids got a mark on their shirts for each completed lap.

I even got to run one of the laps with him.

Captain Awesome let me take a picture with him. Connor thought that was so cool, ha!

My 3 Valentines

This year on Valentine's Day, Jeff was out of town for some much-deserved guy time. But he made sure to leave me a little surprise behind so that I had something special from him. After a few clues by text message, I found several little notes around the house to put together this puzzle message. So cute! Oh, and each message had a little $$ to go along with it, so by the end I had a nice little wad of money to buy myself something fun with. Sweet and cute idea from my #1 Valentine!

Puzzle message :-)

After the kids woke up, they were excited to open their special Valentine package from MeMe and Grand Daddy. Card games (and an extra Nerf gun bullet leftover from Christmas), right up their alley! We ended up enjoying lots of games on the cold Valentine's Day weekend.

Valentine's Day treats from MeMe and Grand Daddy.

Connor's elementary school has two classroom parties each year, and the Friendship Party is usually held on or near Valentine's Day. Since I'm the Homeroom parent for Connor's classroom, I was in charge of getting the party ready for Mrs. Sartor's class. We had a photo booth with props for the kids to get their picture taken, a wooden picture frame to decorate, and even a candy buffet for some take-home treats. The kids were so cute and all had so much fun!

Kaitlynn was my little helper for Connor's friendship party.

The candy buffet table.

Connor with his teacher, Mrs. Sartor.

These two Valentines cuties!

Connor's 2nd grade class.

Connor shows off his decorated photo frame.

Posing for a photobooth pic.

Connor and 2 of his buddies in the photobooth.

I'm so lucky to be his very first Valentine. But most definitely not his last. (sniff sniff)

Posing in front of one of Connor's art class pictures that we found hung in the hallway.

Connor was really excited to share valentines with his friends in his class this year. I found a neat idea for valentine treats on Pinterest that actually turned out really cute. Connor and Kaitlynn both were able to pass out their little Minions (twinkies) to their classmates.

Twinkies dressed up like Minions. The tags said, "You're one in a Minion."

After the Friendship Party, I took Connor and Kaitlynn out for a special Valentine's Day date. We went to Katy Mills, got some cookie treats, went to see the Lego movie, and then enjoyed dinner at Rainforest Cafe. Connor and Kaitlynn were so sweet and really enjoyed our special time together. Although we missed having Jeff around, we still had a great time together on our special date!

Kaitlynn puckers up to give Connor a Valentines kiss along with his Valentine cookie.

Fun in the Forest

One of the reasons we picked our home in Katy was the nice sized backyard with wrought iron fence that overlooks a small lake. It's not exactly what we were used to at our last house, but we have a vision of creating the perfect spot that our family can enjoy for years to come. Last month as a belated Christmas present, we added a gate to our backyard fence so that we could easily get to the lake for fishing and exploring.

Connor and Kaitlynn strike a pose in front of the new gate.

Past the gate, there are lots of areas to explore!

What we didn't count on when we bought the house was discovering a bonus in the form of a "forest." There is a patch of woods right behind our house, adjacent to the lake, that the kids love to visit and explore. Such a fun surprise and unexpected treat when living in a big city! Now when Connor has friends over, he always takes them to the forest and they have quite the adventures. Sometimes they pretend to play Survivorman (like the TV show) and so they make sure to bring their camping supplies and survival snacks, ha!

Connor and his buddy Reid about to explore the forest (you can see it in the background).

One day after returning from the forest with the kids, Jeff started telling me about a treehouse and a zipline that he discovered built into the large oak trees. I was quite intrigued, so recently I joined them all for some forest adventures to check it all out. Sure enough, there is a neat treehouse with steps built into one of the trees, and from the treehouse you can ride a zipline about 50-60 yards from one big tree to the next. Oh my goodness, so cool!! Someone spent a lot of time and energy building the zipline and making sure it's secure and safe. We have no idea who did it, but we sure are enjoying it!

Jeff and the kids in front of the big oak tree, treehouse, and start of the zipline.

The kids and even Jeff LOVE riding the zipline! It takes a lot of help from Dad to make sure the kids can get up there and ride safely, but it has become such a fun adventure!

This is how Connor reaches the zipline handlebars.

On your mark, get set...

There he goes! Weeeeee!

Here he is at the end of the zipline. You can see the lake in the background.

Kaitlynn's turn!

Ready...Set...

Go! She is SO good at hanging on tight!

But Jeff runs behind her, just in case!

And of course, Jeff has to take his turn too.

He starts from the top of the treehouse.

Weeeeeee!

He might be a tad heavier than the kids! ;-)

I took these videos of the kids riding the zipline yesterday. Who knew there would be so much adventure awaiting us right in our own backyard!