Red Rooster Antique Co.

One of my favorite things to do is to go antique shopping...or even just antique looking!

A couple of weeks ago we were in New Braunfels painting pottery and afterwards went across the street to one of my new favorite stores, The Red Rooster Antique Co. http://www.redroosterworld.com/.

(Indian Lego Man with the girls. Carigan with her puppy and Camille with her purse - typical)

As we were walking around, my strained neck was forced to turn all over the place as Camille, Carigan, and Chad wanted me to see everything that they did, but the store is literally stacked floor to ceiling with old stuff! I was glad they were enjoying it as I was, but I was on a mission to find the perfect something that needed to go home with me. I was on the hunt and needed to make my escape for a few minutes.

(Water fountain from the Houston Zoo)

To my great surprise, I found a little amber bird nesting high on a shelf with no other birds around. I snatched it up so fast and turn it over to read W Ward 1993. I have a 1999 "Bluebird of happiness" at home, but had never seen a yellow one!

(The store is also a resturant...but not this one)

Needless to say, I felt like I was the luckiest "chick" in that store! It was just the thing to Spring-up my kitchen window seal!

I saw plenty of other things I wanted such as vintage table clothes, old Kodak cameras, and the cutest green glass juicer. Oh well, Camille is competing in New Braunfels tomorrow and just maybe we can make our way over there...and rescue another pretty thing that wants to live at my house!

(I guess I need to clean my windows)

Rock Stars for kids

Our Rock Stars!

Camille is starting to really get into music and she likes Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana. She got that shirt the other day and wore it 3 days in a row. I finally had to tell her to "NO MORE...put it in the wash already!!!" She sings with every song she hears before knowing or learning the words.

Cari dressed up and told me that she was a mean pirate and then scrunched up her nose and said, "Arrrr!" I never knew a mean pirate that wore Barbie high heels and leg warmers on their arms until now!

I love my kids and their imagination!

Don't they look great!

CrEaTiVe

We got the girls their own desks over the weekend. They both were really wanting them, and we found a great deal at Ikea. When they got back from Mimi and Papa-doo's, they were surprised with their new work stations. First thing in the morning, they are at their desks. It has really brought out their creative sides, especially Camille. She had asked for some tape earlier in the day, and later one she showed me what she made with it.

Earrings!

She also customized her sister a pair.

They are at such a fun age now! They remind me all the time how much fun it was being a kid. I am so thankful that they have each other!

Here they are sporting their styles!

FUN HOUSE!

Kids have a way of finding fun in the most unusual ways...



Cari went through all the trouble of gathering up every kind of pillow, blanket, and stuffed animal she could find to build her glorious helicopter. You can't tell by the picture, but the fan is on and the blades are moving quickly around. She steers her helicopter and imagines flying up in the sky!

Camille enjoys sliding down our banister every once in a while. It looks a bit uncomfortable, but she thinks that it is a blast and continues to climb up on the banister like a monkey and then precedes to slide down over and over at the speed of a rocket!

Slip N Slide!!!

Remember being a kid and loving the fun of sliding on a slip and slide...Chad became a kid again on Sunday and showed the girls how to go "super-dupper" fast (as Carigan would say) in the backyard! They all had so much fun...I think for us it is now officially summer!!!

I hope you can find fun ways to stay cool during the summer as well! Warning...trying this will bring out the kid in you!

Kid's Garden

We decided to make a garden for the girls in our backyard for fun. They were so excited!!! We dug up an area for it and planted seeds that the girls picked out. We will keep you updated on the growth all summer long. It has been fun watching the seeds sprout!

The Spring Musical!

Cami's school put on a musical yesterday and it was great. The kindergarten class went first and did a few songs. The first picture is Camille doing her solo. The theme of the musical was "Sing with the King" and it was done outside at a park. Cami's class did a picnic song, peanut butter and jelly song, and they acted out to a cute song about a farmer growing plants. Cami is a seed with her friend Haley.

She loves all her friends and they had a blast playing before and after the performances. We were so proud of Camille because she did so well on stage. She seems to really feel comfortable up in front of people now and enjoys performing. She has come a long way since her first dance recital at about 4 years ago.

All I want for Christmas is my...

Look at this!!!

Easter at home!

We usually go out of town and have Easter with my parents and grandmother, but this year we decided for many reasons to stay home. It turned out to be great! Our city had a huge egg hunt and carnival for all the kids in our area during the week. It was a lot of fun for the kids. They got to play games, ride a train, hug the Easter bunny, hunt for eggs, and came home with lots of candy.

For the first time, my girls colored eggs. Cami and I love boiled eggs! We also had our first Easter egg hunt at our house on Saturday. We hid the real eggs along with 51 plastic eggs...one with a special cross inside! Chad and I hid them really well and the girls did great finding them. After we opened them all...the girls (along with Chad's parents) decided to hide them for Chad and I to find. That was so much fun! Talk about being a kid again. And can you guess who won...ME! We were two "almost 30 year olds" running around outside snatching up eggs! I'm sure it was an awesome sight!

Later that night, we went to Chad's cousin's house for an Easter dinner with family. They live out in the country and have horses, donkeys, cats, and dogs for the kids to adore. After dinner, the girls wanted to feed the donkeys...well...we thought it was a good idea at the time. They were both so excited...especially my Carigan. She loves, loves, loves animals. She hurried through her dinner just so she could spend time watching their little dogs. Anyway, Cousin Carrie showed the girls the safe way to feed them, but even so...Carigan ended up getting bit, poor thing. It was very painful and she cried and cried! The next morning, she told Chad that she will never feed a donkey again!

Sunday at church, Camille finally lost her wiggly front tooth after service! She was eating a chocolate cupcake when she got my attention and showed me her hanging tooth in the midst of all the cake in her mouth. Thank God my friend Erin (a dental hygienist and trusted friend) was there to pulled it out for her (she loves Erin). Now my big girl is all talking so funny and looks adorable. She says, "I can't believe I have a hole in my smile." Her other tooth is going to come out any day as well. She is growing up so fast.

Easter was a lot of fun and full of great memories to look back on. Even though we do a lot of the traditional stuff, we never lose sight of the true meaning of Easter. Jesus dying for our sins because of His love for us. God giving His Son because of His love for us. Love is huge at Easter time. I think it naturally brings families together when they understand the true meaning of why we celebrate during this time. I hope you too had a great time with family and have fun memories to look back on.

My Marvelous Girl!

So... my oldest girl, Camille, is 6 years old. She is in Kindergarten this year, but she is a really good reader and is reading first grade books during her reading assignments that her class takes home. I heard her down stairs commenting on her nectarine. She and her sister are eating lunch at the table and I hear her say, "MMmm MMmm!!! This is so MARVELOUS!!!" I found that to be so funny coming from such a little person. She is becoming so articulate and apparently is now a connoisseur of fruit.

Sea World

Carigan did not want to be close to Furry Shamu!!!

I could have stayed here all day petting and feeding these sweet dolphins!!!

We are waiting to watch out first show...the Sea Lions - The best show there!!!

We ended up in the splash zone unaware, but praise God we didn't get one drop on us...cold day!

Here is the link of all our pictures and two videos from our Sea World Trip! Check them out!http://picasaweb.google.com/chadandcrystal/SeaWorld?authkey=Gv1sRgCODVrJ7Xkbm6Qg

I love my kids!!!

This chair has fun written all over it!!!

Something fun to do with the kid-o's!!!

This fall Chad and I planted a tomato and Serrano pepper plant and we yielded a surprising harvest. It was so much fun!!! We decided to put them in pots and add basil and cilantro. We also let the girls pick a plant - they wanted a strawberry plant. If you look closely, you can see the tiny strawberry growing.

It has been very educational and fun to grow our own veggies and fruit. I would encourage you to plant one as well. They are very pretty because each plant has a different color flower that will bloom first and that is where the fruit or pepper grows from. I am sure they grow better in the ground, but we wanted to see how well they would do in our pots.

We use the pepper and cilantro to make salsa...we make salsa a lot!!!

We have also planted peach trees, blackberry bushes, and fig trees. My grandparents grew a lot in their backyard, so it is a fun memory I wanted to create for us as well.

Family Life

I was talking with our Pastor, Jennifer Hollar, the other day on the phone and I mentioned how I feel somewhat guilty that I don't have Carigan in any kind of classes like we did with Camille when she was that age. With Camille starting school this year, I already spend about 40 min in the jeep four times a week. It has been a huge adjustment for our family, yet I have a feeling that I will look back at this time in my life and think I had it made. Anyways, I don't want Carigan to be disappointed later down the road when she finds out that bigger sister got to do so many different things and she didn't. I know we will eventually have her in something, but I still was feeling the "Guilty Mom Syndrome". I don't want to be a mom running my children around on crazy schedules!!! We would all be miserable!!! But, I do want to give them opportunities to find their niche.

Jennifer said something to me that will change my perspective forever. She has 4 children and has a much tougher task than I do. She told me that her children don't know crazy schedules either, but what they do know is Family Life.

A light bulb went off! What a beautiful and simple statement! That is what we have and my children know so well....Family Life!!! My kids know Saturday mornings with Daddy's pancakes, they know Dad getting home around 4pm everyday during the week, they know obstacle courses in the living room, movie nights with Mom and Dad, girls day out with me, and they know a huge playroom up stairs that they can play in anytime. Family Life...I never thought of it as an experience before, but it so is! What great memories they will have growing up. I never will feel guilty again! It made me so grateful for what we have as a family. Thanks Jen!!!

My Cari Girl! - Fun with a 3 year old

Most days you will find my youngest, Carigan, in brown boots and a red hat - no matter what the weather is. But some days...I discover her in a much more creative outfit, with a very interesting story of what she is pretending to be. As she is sitting in my lap right now, she getting into many of my things and telling me how busy she is. I thought I should highlight her in my blog. All of the pictures are from February (last month).

She not only has many outfits in her head to wear, but I find her doing the funniest things. She usually has many random toys that she gathers together to play with. She usually collects them in her shopping basket, buckets, baskets, stroller, purses, or anything that she can cram something into.

She loves being a Mommy or a puppy most days. Her second favorites would be acting like a super hero or someone who is real busy. She also has a thing for tying up stuff...don't ask me why!

She is also a great help in her kitchen and mine! She loves helping and making a mess!!!

We sometimes find her asleep in the strangest positions or places. I think she must be like her Daddy and fall asleep anywhere!

She has two buddies here at the house. Her cat Cheeto...

And her #1 Buddy is her Sissy that she loves and adores and tries to be like...Camille!