Emma's 5th Birthday

Today our baby girl turned 5 years old!  We started the day with a special breakfast of doughnut holes.  Later on in the day the party began!  We had lots of friends and family come over to celebrate.  Emma wanted an Octonauts theme, so that is what she got!  We handmade some of the decorations, like the happy birthday sign and the hanging jellyfish.  Uncle Eric helped with the decorations and food preparation, and everything went great.  She even got her first pinata, which everyone got a few hits on before it finally unleashed its bounty.  Our little girl is growing up, and we can't wait to see the wonderful girl she grows up to be!

Playing with Poppa

The girls adore their Poppa. He is a very hands on Poppa and does anything and everything for his girls. They have such a wonderful bond and they love each other deeply. Emma and Abby play chase with him, games, watch shows, talk and talk, and they just love any moment they can get with him. They love to sing for him, dance for him, cater to him when he comes over with drinks and snacks. They would rather spend every moment playing with him than almost anything else.

Swim Lessons

The girls took some very basic swim lessons at the local pool park and enjoyed it for what it was. It was a 30 minute class with two instructors and 10 students. That gave each child about 3 minutes in the water... not the best classes but they had fun. We are currently looking into getting them some lessons at a different location.

Emma and Abby Update

While Ray was in Tennessee I had several days of quality time with my girls. One of the things we did was go to lunch together just the three of us. Our girls really enjoy Mexican food, so I took them to Casa Ole. I was able to get Emma to eat a cheese enchilda for the 1st time. They were super sweet, well behaved and we made a really nice memory together.
 

 Emma Elizabeth will be 5 in seven days and a part of our preparations for her special day was shopping for one of her outfits for pictures. We went to Kohl's and she had a great time looking over the selection before settling on this super cute dress.

 As you can tell from the pictures of our Abby Grace - who now tells you her name is Abigail, she has enjoyed several naps no matter where she is.... She is in the stage of severe independence and not wanting to nap even though her little body really needs them.

There have been several days of just playing with their blocks, princess castle, Octonauts etc... then you have days where they just want to dress up and have you take pictures of them. We have had races in the house, games of tag, playing hula hoop with Poppa, and just being loving, sweet, girls.  "Homework" is a time where they sit at the table and work in binders that we created with some work for both girls. They really like doing school work and we pray this continues until they are out of college.

4th of July

Even with all of the rain we had a great family fun filled time at our house. Ray did a terrific job of doing the BBQ in the rain. We had a feast of hamburgers, hotdogs, sausage, baked beans, and Ray even made homemade potato salad!

We give thanks to all past and present who give their lives to protect the freedoms of our country.

God Bless America!

Louisiana Road Trip

We decided to go on an impromptu trip to Louisiana for some good food and to visit friends.  We stopped in Lake Charles to eat lunch at Steamboat Bill's, and it was very good.  We then traveled to New Iberia to meet up with Brandie's best friend, Janet.  The girls had a lot of fun, especially when we went to help feed and water the racehorses!  The girls got to help with the watering and got to pet the horses.  It was a long, but great day trip!

First Time Bowling

We took the girls bowling for the first time today, along with Nana, Poppa, and Uncle Eric. 
After teaching them we had to take turns, they got into the game and had fun!  We had the bumpers up so the girls could always knock down the pins, and the bowling alley had a dinosaur tool that the girls used to push the ball off so it picked up a bit more speed.  We all had a great time and look forward to the next trip!

Valentine Reveille Pheris

It was a sad day today.  We had to end the suffering of our 14 year old family pet Valentine.  She was named that because I bought her for Brandie Pheris as a Valentine's gift back in 2000.  I took her to the Animal Shelter and told her to pick whatever dog she wanted.  There were a lot of cute little dogs, but she saw this runtish black dog that was listless and chose her, saying she knew the other dogs would get adopted, but this one would get overlooked and put to sleep.

We brought her home, and after a couple of days she stopped eating and drinking, so we took her to the vet and found she had Parvo. This pound puppy ended up costing $1200, but she fought and made it through healthy.  A few months later, we had to move to College Station for Brandie to start at A&M, and our apartment didn't allow pets.  By that time my Dad had fallen in love with her though, which was apparent when he called us cruel for trying to kennel train her and started cooking her T-bone steaks to eat.  It was also about that time that we realized she wasn't going to be a small lap dog, and that she was really a Chow/Black Lab mix.  That just meant she was going to be a big lap dog!

Throughout the years she has been a constant companion at my parents' house, always nudging your arm to pet her, giving you sad eyes when she wanted your table food, shaking your hand, and always being loyal and watching over the family. 

There are a ton of stories about her, like the time Eric made a beef roast, put it on the counter and turned his head, and looked back a minute later with an empty platter and a smile on Valentine's face.  Even in her older years, she warmed up to Emma and Abby, especially once she knew they would feed her constantly!

She is resting peacefully now, without pain, and running free forever.  We love you Tine Tine!

Happy Father's Day

We love you, appreciate you, and will always give thanks that God blessed us with you as our Daddy.

Love,

Emma and Abby Grace

(pictures to come)