Winter Days

This poor girl had several shots and lab work done all on the same day and handled it like a champ...but a chocolate shake was definitely in order.  

First snow of the season.  I always love how it takes way longer to get ready to go in the snow than they actually spend out there, but it's worth it to see them all bundled up and see the wonder of the snow, if just for a minute.

Dad got tickets from a friend to an OU Women's basketball game and took Anniston on a date.  They had a great time!

Our friends the Whaleys joined us for a spontaneous weekend at the lake.  It was so fun for the kids to play and for us to get some quality time with our friends.  We love the Whaleys!

Love this kid.

They found some cookies and found a spot to sit down and chow down before mom caught them.  At least they were sharing.

It took us nearly three years, but we finally got a working fire place in our home!  I love it!

It's amazing the things kids can find entertaining sometimes.

Thankful for Gigi and all the time she gives to the kids.

Fun at the park.

Anniston always asks to have a tea party with her friends, so she was thrilled when Halle got to come play for an afternoon and have a tea party with us!

These two absolutely love to have their faces painted.  I'm not much of an artist but I get a lot of practice.

So the Daddy Daughter Dance is approaching.  It's this fancy dance where the girls and their dads get all dressed up and go to the dance and out to a nice dinner.  Anniston loves it and looks forward to the quality time with just her and Dad.  This year this is the dress she picked out originally.  I really had to think about if I was going to let her wear it.  I didn't want to tell her no, especially if my motivation was because I would be embarrassed by the pictures of the girls in their fancy dresses and my daughter in her PJ Masks t-shirt dress.  This wasn't about me, after all.  So I finally decided if she REALLY wanted this to be her dress, I would let her.  So I had a chat with her...I talked to her about how when Mommy goes on a fancy date with Dad, I love to get all dressed up and how Daddy would be getting all dressed up and wear a suit and what a fancy party they were going to....and that if this is what she wanted to wear, she could do that.  After a lot of thinking about it, she decided to pick a fancy dress that twirled when she spun around.  She made a beautiful choice and she made it all on her own...I got to the point where I was willing to buy the ridiculous dress if she hadn't made another choice, and she ended up with a different dress feeling so excited about her choice.  I call that a win-win.

One of those days I took all three kiddos to the zoo by myself.  It's always really fun until it's time to go and everyone decides they can't walk anymore and I am trying to carry three children to the car.