Just the Five of Us…and Some Friends! ;)

A couple of Fridays ago, we had the best family day! We spent the morning at the Forth Worth Museum of History and Science! Mom Mom and Pop Pop gave us passes there for Avaree's birthday last year, and it is one of our favorite places to go! Avaree and I started out in the craft room where we made tissue paper flowers, and then she put her bouqet inside the wind tunnel! She was amazed!

Pretty girl showing off her flowers! :)

Felicity loves the dark room! She had a blast with all of the different colors on the giant light brite!

I love that face! 

Showing Mama!

Daddy and Brandt were twinsies in their outfits! :) Daddy is so good to spend his Fridays doing something with us. I'm sure he'd rather be on the golf course or sleeping, but he always tries to do something fun with us on Fridays! :) Super thankful for him!

Brother was checking out my water glass (thanks for wearing him, Daddy!!) while the girls and I were checking out the dinosaurs! 

Avaree loves to dress up in the children's area! This day she decided to be a construction worker! :)

We also enjoyed learning about electricity and how we can help "power the city!" :)

Sister was already over it and ready to move on! ;)

Daddy and Avaree talked about the 7 continents!

Then, we went to have lunch together. We had hamburgers at a neat place in Fort Worth that had been on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network. We had been eating "pantry meals" for two weeks, so everyone was excited for a yummy burger. It turns out that this wasn't quite the place for our crew, but the burger was still super yummy. 

Daddy and the girls went on in, and Mommy stayed in the car to feed brother. I was in a parked car in a parking garage when I took this picture! ;) I spy a little hand that isn't mine!

After lunch we went across the street for a popsicle! We had been wanting to come to Steel City Pops for a long time, but this was our first time! Everyone was so excited, but right after this picture, Felicity dropped hers on the ground. So, I gave her mine! I already want to go back, so that I can have one! ;) We all got a popsicle for five bucks, and you can watch them make them inside! We live in such a neat place!

One more shot! It was a super hot and sunny day! 

That day, Mr. Brandt rolled over for us again! He's such a big boy now!

That night, we had dinner with some awesome new friends! God is so good! The mama of this family was in my BSF small group, and her oldest and Avaree were in Pre-K together! Now, Avaree and Ava will be going to Kinder together next year, and this sweet family has started visiting our church! We just love them! They have three kiddos (2 girls and a boy) just like us! After dinner, the girls all enjoyed swimming in the backyard!

On Saturday, yet again, we were blessed to get to have dinner with another precious family that we adore. They invited us over for some yummy grilled chicken and potatoes! They also have three kiddos (2 girls and a boy), and we just love them! God is so good to provide for us in so many ways, and we are so very thankful for our sweet friends! Brandt and TJ enjoyed watching Thomas the Train while we cleaned up! :)

While we were visiting, a crazy storm came up, and as we were leaving, we saw a beautiful rainbow that spanned the sky as far as we could see! I loved that it was complete. God's promises are never empty or incomplete, and he always finishes--everything. 

That was just a Friday and Saturday, but they were two absolutely wonderful days! :) 
Thankful!

Family Time at the Gaylord

After Daddy completed his course work two Fridays ago, he spent all of Saturday at church preparing for a combination of our youth musical and the adult musical! Then, Sunday was "The Hanging of the Adult Musical!" It was awesome.  Sunday afternoon, after some Mexican food (YUM!), we headed out to celebrate with some MUCH NEEDED family time!!!!! :)  We took the girls to the Gaylord! Someone blessed us with an AMAZING rate, and we were able to stay overnight! We spent that afternoon/evening just walking around the hotel and watching the trains, and the next morning, we took the girls to ICE!

Everyone was just happy to have time with Daddy!

I've never been to the Gaylor during Christmastime, but it is BEAUTIFUL! Avaree looooved the trains, and Santa's shoes! ;)

She got SO excited every time the train would come back around!

We were all tired, but we managed to get a few pictures anyway! :)

…and then tickle monster Daddy got everyone excited before bath and bed! haha!

I let the girls open their matching Christmas jammies, and they looked so cute! :) 

It wasn't the most restful night (on top of many non-restful nights), but Daddy took the girls to breakfast at 7am, and then Mommy got TWO MORE HOURS of sleep! And, when I finally got myself to breakfast, there was a hot coffee waiting on me! Merry Christmas to me! :)

Then, we all got dressed and headed out for ICE! I wore Felicity in the Bjorn for about three hours that morning! She did great and still loves to be close! :)

Avaree told us at least a dozen times that this was the "BEST HOTEL EVER!" :) 

She couldn't believe there were so many Christmas trees! :) 

She wanted her picture taken in the present! :)

…and we had to go say good morning to the trains and shoes! :)

Group picture while we were waiting on Daddy to meet up with us after taking our bags to the car!

:) Sweet baby! 

Ave wanted a picture with the Nutcracker!

…and she loved the "snow!"

While ICE was amazing, I will say that I wish I had known that the big coats provided were not going to be enough. Next time, I will bring ear muffs, gloves and scarves for all! Avaree had a big coat, but she was still freezing, and Felicity had her own coat, and was also inside my big coat, so she wasn't really cold, but I was freezing because my coat had to be open on top so that I could wear her and button her in my bottom half. Anyway, it was a neat experience, but definitely know what to do differently next time!

Avaree loved the ballerinas!

I loved the New York area!

The manger scene was amazing!!!!!

Our family pic! :) Brandon bought it for me because I loved the memory! 

…and we ended our adventure with a trip to Target and Chick-fil-A! We had two happy girls! :)

Felicity can sit up in the buggy now! Big girl!

So thankful for family time! We came back home, and Daddy took Avaree to see FROZEN, and then we all went to Avaree's dance class before coming home to have dinner together! It was the most time we had spent together in ages. Loved every second! :)