sweet sisters

it's so fun to see these two playing with and loving on each other!  they play princess and castle together which invloves dressing up and hiding under tables while kirby tells maggie what to say and do and maggie hangs on kirby's every word!

kirby wants maggie to eat at the "big" little table with her all the time, too.  last week maria let mags eat lunch with kirby, and when she came back from the kitchen with william, both girls had their hands clasped and heads down.  when kirby finished the blessing, maggie said, "amen!"  such sweet sisters - i hope kirby will always set such a good example!

we spent last weekend in san antonio with nana and papa, and we caught the girls playing in nana's bowl:

iphone pics

the most recent few photos from my phone...

more posing!

one of my faves!  sweet william and his sweet daddy on father's day

mags checking out the butterfly as it came out of its cocoon!

happy thursday!

Goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

…How about you, you, you?  Every time I think about the zoo I get that Raffi song in my head!  …you can come too, too, too.  We’re goin’ to the zoo! 

Anyway, we headed to the zoo last week, and despite the heat, we had a blast!  It was the first time I’d been since they’ve opened up the new African section with the giraffes (that you can feed for a mere $5), rhinos, and chimps.  Halfway through it we were melting, both literally and figuratively, so I’m sure that’s why we missed the elephants.  (or “Phantes” as M&W call them)  We cut the trip short and rode the train before heading home.  Kirby summed it up best when we got in the car…”Good Trip!”

Kirby was so pumped about the tunnel - I've been in this part of the zoo so many times and never knew this little treasure was there.  She and Maggie had so much fun crawling through and looking at the fish - SO much fun that I had to drag Maggie out of it so other kids could have a turn! 

They don't come any cuter than this...

Mags ADORES Kirby.  Just recently, she's started trying to repeat everything Kirby says and does.  This pic captures it perfectly!

 

Sweet sister loving on her babies!

More posing.  I honestly have NO idea where this has come from!

I love Maggie's reflection in this pic - they just stared at each other for what seemed like forever!

You might think this is a rhino, but no - it's La Vaca Lola.  just ask William!!  "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!  Look!  La Vaca Lola!"

Our train ride...one day everyone will look at the camera...one day!

Tiny Dancer

When I enrolled Kirby up for ballet in January, I wasn't sure how she'd do in front of a crowd and was hesitant to let her participate in the recital - especially because she would be one of 2 kids dancing from her class.  I was obviously projecting my own fear of being in the spotlight on to her, because SHE. ATE. IT. UP!  She danced to The Beatles' All You Need Is Love, and while "grace" may not be her middle name, there wasn't a cuter dancer in the whole show...She grinned from ear to ear the entire time she was on stage and got really into posing for the camera (completely her idea!!)!  By the end of the 4th show, she was really eating up the attention!!

big old baby

How can my baby possibly be FOUR!?!?!  I am amazed at the little girl my baby has become - she is sweet and smart and beautiful and innocent and so excited about every little thing.  She told me the other day that, "[she] just loved all the people in the whole wide world!"  I love that she meant it!  I love that she says the sweetest prayers and is full of questions about God and Jesus, yet I feel so inadequate to even begin to try to answer them.  I love it when she crawls in bed with us in the mornings and rubs my arm for just a second before asking me to scratch her back.  I love how she lays on the couch to "rest" and watch a show and never makes it past the opening scene before she's snoozing away.  I love that she is reading and writing simple words and that she LOVES drawing and painting - she almost always draws flowers (sunflowers to be exact!), Rapunzels, or rainbows.  When she finishes a picture, she tapes her masterpiece in the perfect spot somewhere in the house.  We've got flowers in the potty room, above Maggie's bed, on kitchen cabinets...all over the place.  I love it!!  I love that she loves ballet and is swimming like a fish!  She seems to have matured overnight, and it's so bittersweet!!  I pray that God will continue to nourish her sweet spirit.

 

Kirbs counted down the days to June 1st - every morning she asking how many days left until her birthday.  When she woke up on the big day, she said, "I'm four.  I'm four!  I woke up this morning and I'M ALREADY FOUR!!!!!!!!!"  

We celebrated her actual birthday with dinner at tried and true Tony's and pink cupcakes and had her pARTy at Wonderwild with playtime, painting, party hats, and donuts!   Kirbs insisted that she have party hats!

Maggie and William got in on the fun this year, too!

 

 

I saw a tutorial online for really cute balloon wreaths, and decided to copy it for table decorations.  They suggested I use 150 balloons for a wreath, so my mom and I headed to Walmart/Hobby Lobby/Michaels to gather the supplies...600 balloons later, we had 1 1/2 balls covered!  I think we put them a tiny bit too close to each other, because they ended up weighing a ton!  We gave a whole new meaning to the term lead balloon.  They sure were cute, though!!  We will be basing all future birthday parties themes/color schemes in the Gray household off of these suckers!

 

The biggest hit by far was the Rapunzel dress and wig that Kirby got from Maria and Uncle Michael.  We are huge Tangled fans at our house - All three kids recite the lines and sing the songs at the top of their lungs - think we watch it too much?!?!?!

 

E.T. even made an appearance for Kirby's big day!

Easter Top Ten...

 ...in no particular order!

10.  Dudley's Spin an Egg - made super easy, super fun, super pretty Easter eggs!

9.  Me: I love you, William.
     William: Too, Mommy.
     Melts. My. Heart.  I don't think there's a sweeter little boy on the planet.

8.  Maggie teetee'd on the potty!  (I'm pretty sure it was a fluke, but it still counts!!)

7.  Lucy!  Thanks, Py, for loaning us a bunny for the weekend - She was a HUGE hit.  Kirby is in love.  Bless Lucy's heart, though, those kids were rough on her.  William picked her up by her ears, and Mags grabbed her by her fur, picked her up and dropped her.  I'm sure Ole Lucy (aka Lucifer, FooFoo, & Bunny Snuggles) is glad our crew is back in Houston!

6.  Amazing Easter service at St. Martin's.  The services throughout Lent were incredible, too.

5.  The Big Kid egg hunt.  It was cut throat - with ~$300 at stake, it was an all out war.  I'm sick we lost some of the pictures, because they were hysterical.  This was so serious that I sported capris and running shoes so that I wouldn't be at a disadvantage in flip flops.  It was worth it, because I walked away with $75 and a golden egg!!  What, you ask, was in the golden egg?  Dog poop.  My momma is soooooo funny.

4.  Cookie decorating with Aunty Kathy, Gretchen, & Tessa!

3.  Rain boots for William.  This kid LOVES shoes - so much so that he sleeps in them regularly.  These "patos" (zapatos) were just about more that he could stand.

 2.  Little Kid egg hunts - much more tame, but fun none the less!  Maggie carried her basket around like a purse, and Kirby only went for the purple ones, because, "purple is [her] favorite color, of course."

1.  Cruising!  While Kirbs was sacked out on the couch, we launched Maggie and William up and down the driveway.  William held on for dear life, and Mags threw her hands up and squealed.  So fun.