New Dance and It's almost Christmas!

Annika started taking ballet/tap/gymnastics at the Little Gym. She LOVES it! I haven't ever seen her smile so big! She was laughing and having the best time! This teacher is so great, but she is leaving in January, so we won't have her when we start. :(



Olivia is taking gym. at the Little Gym, but ballet at a more serious ballet place. She loves it. It is kind of strict, but she really enjoyed her time there and wants to be a real ballerina. They all certainly looked like real ballerinas!



We did Christmas early b/c of travel and Trav's work schedule. Here they are after setting out milk and cookies!



And here we all are. :)

Little Rock fun Part 2

Travis really should just sit at the kid's table! :) We had Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle's really nice barn house. We had a great time as usual. The turkey was incredible and so was the blackberry apple pie my mom made.



Olivia wants to be a ballerina, so she was very happy to get to see and get her picture taken with two ballerinas (I don't know what you call them men ones-sorry). They performed part of the Nutcracker.



The girls were so excited and so thankful to get snow. I know God sent that for Olivia. He's good like that!



A picture of our door. Isn't it lovely? Now it is repaired. It took a week to get the new door in. We are good- except for caulking and painting. We've added other security measures to the doors too. My next step is to buy the pit bull I saw for sell at the mall pet shop.

Fun in Little Rock

This year was Annika's turn to put the star on mom's tree. She was so excited! Olivia got to help straighten it later on!



Olivia loves puzzles and has since she was small. This is a 500 piece puzzle she and my mom did together. Olivia did a good part of it by herself. She loved it!




This is the plush Santa and Mrs. Claus that we got to see in LR. We went b/c we had gotten to walk around on this Belgian horse farm and the owner told us they'd be bringing in Santa. It was a fun night. We got to see fireworks, part of the Nutcracker, hear Christmas music, eat cotton candy, ride a train (on wheels), and ride in the same carriage as Santa. I wish we'd known about them (the horse people, not Santa) when we got married. How fun would it be to ride off in that?



The girls wrote a letter to Santa and got to put it in his mailbox! We didn't wait in line to see them, but we did go stand on the other side and get a picture of the girls with Santa in the background. :)

Moving Day

Here are the girls in the second moving truck. The first one was completely packed. We had the best movers ever and I would use them again if we could. (and needed to- I hope to not move for a while!)



This was the hard part- I had to seriously run through every room cleaning behind the packers and movers. I had to get everything cleaned and painted before they left so they could take all my cleaning stuff with them. I was completely worn out from doing it all by myself. My sweet friend Jenny helped with the girls. I was so thankful that she kept them during the day a lot and let us stay at their house for two nights. Other than that it was all me. Well, who am I kidding. God completely gave me strength for what I had to do. He may not have given me a helper, but he helped me. Who else do you need besides God helping you?
After all that, the girls and I hopped in the car and headed out for our trip to Nashville to stay with my step-sister and her family. And then onto Little Rock the next day. I was so worn out. Seriously that was the hardest thing I have ever done. But it was helpful b/c I was too tired to be sad. I loved our house, but thankfully I haven't really missed it. The girls haven't either. In fact they tell me on a regular basis how much they love our new house. Again, all God.




That is the living room at our new house. It actually looks a lot more put together right now and Christmassyier. :) Like that word? And of course, we have a little old tv in that one's place.



That is the dining room. Thankfully all of that is put away now. I need to go through and get some pics soon. Ones that look more organized! But it is always good to see the before. So it basically looked like that all through our house.

I mentioned that Annika was starting dance at the Little Gym. This is the first fun thing she's gotten to do. You cannot imagine a smile as big as I saw on her face. It was so fun to see joy in her eyes! And Olivia started ballet and a ballet center. She loved it. It seemed a little strict to me, but they look like amazing dancers. She wants to look like a real dancer, learn real ballet, and be a dancer, so it seems good for her. She has such a sweet, little sensitive heart that I was worried. But she can't wait to go back!

We are doing Christmas early. I will post pics after we do it. The girls are so excited! Olivia asked me if I thought Santa would like cupcakes. :) I think Olivia would like cupcakes!

This has been a crazy week of trying to stay focused on what really matters. Like it is more important to spend time with the girls or ask them to stay out of my way while I get the house organized. Have a done a good job? No. But I have thought a lot about it. A precious little girl from North West AR went to be with Jesus this morning. She had leukemia. Breaks my heart. It seems like everywhere I turn someone has cancer. Or someone is living longer than their children. I do not want to live in fear, but I do want to realize God has our days numbered. And our kids are not ours. They have been given to us to watch over, but they belong to God. Thankfully suffering doesn't continue forever. Thankfully Jesus will be back for us and we get to live with him forever- free of pain, cancer, tears, and deep hurt from living without your children. And thankfully God's gift is a free one. I have to do nothing but accept it. His love is amazing.

A little late

Well, I know it is a little past Halloween, but I never got to put up these pictures. I love my husband. He is so sweet. He had each of the girls draw a picture of what they wanted their pumpkin to look like and he made it just like that. I wouldn't have. I would have made it how I thought it would be better. Actually we wouldn't have carved pumpkins at all if it were up to me. Too messy. Moon sand and playdoh stress Travis out too much, but a bunch of mushy pumpkin stuff all over the kitchen is fine by him. :) I am so blessed to have him and even more blessed to be getting to live under one roof with him again.



Here he is...

Here is what we did while he lived in TX. The girls put over 30 bows in my hair. We made mi's and dressed up. We did not sample from the cabinet that is open up by the tv- although I thought about it!


Speaking of the tv. It is no longer with us. 3 really kind people broke into our house the Saturday after Thanksgiving and helped themselves to our nice tv. It didn't get to live in our new house for very long. And speaking of new house- we made it to TX. The girls and I drove 13 hours to Little Rock. I dropped them off there for 5 days- I haven't been away from Annika ever- it was weird to be without them. I drove onto TX- so I drove about 19 hours in 3 days. Then a few days later I drove another 6 to get back to AR. I was glad to be out of the car for a while. And honestly glad to be away from boxes. I have been around them too much. It was good to not be able to unpack for a while. And I am glad we weren't in town for the break in. Travis did have to drive back before we had planned, but he made it back and put a big 2x4 across our door. We are now investing in some other things to keep people from breaking in. It is actually very easy to get through someone's door. And apparently an alarm system doesn't keep them away. They came on in anyway.


I am thankful to be in TX, thankful that the girls have done so well adjusting to their new house and thankful for God's hand in everything with our move. It is amazing how he perfectly worked everything out. Yes, we had to wait longer than I wanted to move and live apart from Travis for 3 months (that was so hard- really- amazingly hard). I am so glad that part is over. I think it doesn't seem real that we are here. I began to think it was never going to happen. I just noticed the girls sitting by each other playing on the computer together. That's another thing I am thankful for- two sweet girls that love each other and get along amazingly well- that could only be orchestrated in heaven!
Tomorrow morning Annika is doing a trial class at the Little Gym for dance/gymnastics and Olivia has dance tomorrow night at the Ballet Center. She is so excited. We went and got her outfit- they all have to be dressed the same according to their age group. She wants to learn how to dance well and has the best attitude about being the new student. She said she can't wait- it is fun to be the new one. Not many kids think that way- thankful she does!