Little Work, Lotta Play

Zack and I are strong believers of living each day to it's fullest.  So I guess that means we make sure things get done around here but then we make plenty of time for fun!

As much as I hate to see how fast the girls are growing up...this is one of the perks!  They can share some of the cleaning responsibilities =)

We also make sure the vegetables get eaten.  Reese is typically better at this than Ava (unless it's green beans or carrots) but Ava gets the job done, even if it means putting cottage cheese on her broccoli to get it down!  I'm sure she'll be trying this out on brussels sprouts, squash, and asparagus soon too.

And now to the fun...

Michelle came to our house to visit.  We always used to see her when the Southards lived next door because she was friends of theirs but now we don't see her as often.  The girls loved the attention!

We also went to the Spring Fest that Indian Creek Community Church (where the girls go to preschool) held last Saturday.  We took our friends Delaney and Harper too!

And finally, we had a family picnic in the family room and watched a movie together.  Gotta love picnics with Chinese takeout!

A Weekend in Eureka Springs

This past weekend we headed south to Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  Since Zack and I don't have a spring break that matches up we decided on a little weekend getaway.  We had never been to Arkansas so this was a first for us.  There was rain on Friday and the first half of Saturday but we didn't let it ruin the weekend.  We enjoyed time in our "Treehouse" as the property was called, hiking around trails in town to look at a couple of the springs, taking in the St. Patrick's Day parade, visiting Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge and going for a hike around Leatherwood Lake.  Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge is home to over 100 lions, tigers, cougars, bears, etc.  These animals are mostly ones that people purchased as baby animals as pets and then decided they couldn't keep them.  Once the refuge takes them in, they spend the rest of their lives there.  It was a pretty cool place to see these animals up close and personal.  And as you can see, we also found some yummy treats and had a couple picnics.

Off to a Busy March

It's hard to believe it's already the 10th of March!  The end of February ended with our foundation's event Putting for Preemies.  It was the first year we have tried the family-friendly miniature golf event and we feel it was a success.  We knew it wouldn't bring in the $40,000+ that our summer golf event brings in each year but that wasn't the point.  While we continuously want to help raise funds to support the fight against prematurity, this was a way to get families together to become more aware of prematurity and to just have fun in the winter months.  The event raised over $5,900 and some donations are still coming in.  Pretty exciting!

Here is Ava putting...she doesn't get her skills from me!

This past weekend Nana and Pappy visited after being in Florida for the months of January and February.  It had been a long time since Christmas and we had seen them so there was plenty of cuddling.  There were also some outings including Maddy and Sylas for ice cream!  Yum Yum!

On Saturday Ava and Reese finally got to have their Christmas present from Mommy and Daddy.  We went to the Sprint Center for Disney on Ice.  It was pretty entertaining but I think Ava's favorite part was the popcorn as you can see from the picture!

Last night was "Watch Week" at ballet.  That just means that the parents get to come in during the last 15 minutes and watch them do their thing.  Based on what we saw I'm not sure if ballet is going to be "their thing"!  (Ava and Reese are dressed in a black leotard and hot pink tutus if you need help pointing them out.)

And to end on a funny note...when Ava and Reese go to bed every night we turn on music for them to fall asleep to (and to drown out any noise we are making when we are still awake).  Then when Zack and I go to bed we turn the music off.  Here is how we found them last night...Reese says she got hot so she took off her pajamas and Ava says she doesn't remember going over to Reese's bed.  Too funny!