Funny Kid Comment

I'm horrible at keeping this blog current but I thought I'd post a funny comment Danyka made yesterday.

Sitting at the dinner table last night, I had a horrible headache. Danyka looked at me and said, "Mommy, I know why you have a headache?" When I asked her why, she responded, "because we drained your energy." Luckily I was able to compose myself without laughing and told her that wasn't the reason.

Today, she still wanted to help and told me I probably had a headache from my allergies. She's so cute. I love that girl.

Summer Fun

Summer time is always fun. Our family has been busy with plenty of fun events. The girls are both having a great time at FBC's preschool summer camp. They are getting so big.

Since I haven't posted a blog in quite some time, I figured I would post some recent pictures.

Our first summer event was visiting my parents in Colorado. We were there from June 9th through the 16th. The weather was interesting because we had tornado warnings most days. Fortunately we were still able to get out and play. The best trips were to Water World and the Butterfly Pavillion. Traveling is getting much easier now that the girls are getting older.

On June 27th we celebrated Danyka's 5th birthday with a small swim party. The theme was butterflies. There were butterfly decorations, cupcakes and hairbows for favors. Danyka was definitely spoiled. This seemed to be the year of the Barbie. She even received some fun accessories, including a toilet. You'd be surprised how frequently Barbie's need to go potty.








July 3rd was spent hanging out with the Burrill side of the family. It was a wonderful day to swim. We ate yummy food and enjoyed good company. The adults even played a few games of PIG in the pool.

The 4th of July was a spectacular day as well. Mid afternoon we joined our friends, the Albrights, along with some of their neighbors and families for a celebration. We ate hamburgers and hot dogs, swam and watched fireworks. This was the first year the girls have seen fireworks. They loved them and especially enjoyed playing with the sparklers.




Scott and I are still actively involved with the college group at FBC. The students are wondeful and we feel blessed to be a part of their lives. This summer we have been leading a Monday night Bible Study at our house. There are generally around 2o students that attend. Bringing with us an intervarsity background, we try to engage the kids in a community activity each week. This past week we played "the bubble gum game". It was very entertaining...at least for Scott and me.

Yesterday the girls finished 2 weeks of swim lessons. We are amazed at what they were able to accomplish in 8 days and we LOVE their swim teacher. In fact, we signed the girls up for a semi-private session at the beginning of August. Prior to swim lessons, neither one of the girls would put their faces in the water. Now they are swimming, jumping off the diving board, floating and diving for toys. Of course none of these skills are perfected but they are doing awesome.

So that's our summer in a nutshell. Leave it to me to have a mega blog post. It's hard to find the time to post anything so I figured I'd just go for it this morning. Life is good and we are incredibly blessed.

Little Girls...

This afternoon Isabelle and Calista came over for a quick visit. It was fun having a house full of four little girls. You could just feel the "pinkness" of the moment. They had a fabulous time playing. I simply sat, obsersed and folded laundry. Truly it was entertaining. Isabelle was busy cooking for us and made it perfectly clear that everything she did was pretend. My favorite was, "I am pretend cooking, so don't touch the pretend stove because it is pretend hot." Only out of the mouths of babes, right? Too cute.

Danyka was very busy trying to mother Calista. I'll admit that was the most exhausting part. I had to remind her over and over and over....did I say over and over...to give Calista some space and that she was happy with the toys she already had. It really was sweet and I know she was trying to be helpful. Danyka and Whitney could barely hold their excitement today when I told them that we were going to watch Calista this afternoon. They had both forewarned me that they would be big helpers. Whitney particularly enjoyed making the June doll dance for Calista. Fortunately that was a big hit.

Life is definitely easier now with a 3 year old and almost 5 year old. It's amazing to watch them interact with other children and usually it's enjoyable for them and me. Today was one of those days. Girls are so much fun!

Sneaky!

About 5 minutes ago Scott announced that it was bedtime for the girls. They know that they can get a quick sip of water and then it's time to head upstairs for the usual routine.
After finishing her water, Danyka came to me and asked if she could put pajamas on her doll that is going to sleep with her tonight. I said no because it was time to go to bed right now. She should have thought about that earlier. So little miss sneaky pants went over to her daddy, who was putting some stuff away in the closet and said, "Daddy, I have to tell you a secret." She then proceeded to whisper in his ear, "Can I go put pajamas on my doll real quick?" Fortunately he was there to hear our conversation and he responded, "Didn't you and Mommy just have this discussion?" She slyly remarked, "Yes, but I was hoping you would make the decision."
Scott then explained to Danyka why this behavior was unacceptable and that Mommy and Daddy have the same rules. So if this is her thought process at four, I can only imagine life 10 years from now. She's one bright little girl.

Experimenting...

The past few weeks have been marked with busyness, like most days around here, but I've been fortunate enough to find a few blips of time here and there to create. I'll admit that the urge to create has not yet escaped me, but at least I got my fill for a while.

Although I have no background in sewing, I thought it would be fun to try my hand at dress making. I found a simple pattern for a pillowcase dress online and bought fabric at JoAnns to make the girls a different dress. I don't think I would really enjoy being a seamstress but it was at least a fun experiment. And please don't forget...but in the Burrill house, where there is a dress, there is a matching or coordinating bow.

I also had to come up with a brilliant plan to adorn Whitney with her class animal for preschool next year. The animal is terribly cute yet incredibly difficult to find on children's clothing or really in much of anything. So I decided that if I couldn't find fabric to make a dress or a some other article of clothing, I would at least have to come up with an idea for a hair bow...hence the sculpey clay Orca. Whitney will be a Little Orca next year. She is so excited. (I must admit that I found a similar clay Orca online that I tried to reproduce.)

The most recent craft of late didn't come with great inspiration. I simply thought it turned out cute. A friend of a friend called me last night and asked me if I could make a hair bow for her daughter's cheer try-outs this weekend. This is what I came up with. I love fancy bows. Hopefully she will like it.

I'm looking forward to my next crafting adventure. I'm sure it's lurking just around the corner. Finding or coming up with craft ideas is simple; finding the time to create is a bit more challenging.

Sisters

In our house you will find many pairs of toys. They don't always look identical, but they are basically the same. Frequently Danyka has the pink version (her favorite color) and Whit's is blue (her favorite color). I thought it was pretty cute this last week when Whitney concluded that she wanted her hair to look just like her sister's. Danyka had hers cut short on Sunday. I knew that Whit's needed a trim as well but I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted done. Although, like the toys, they aren't identical...they are basically the same.

I love these little girls and it's a blessing to watch them grow up together. I see many years of laughter and silliness in our future.

Thanks to DeAnna who took this darling picture along with many others. You've got to love the fancy holiday dresses...and of course they must have a bow to match.

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe it's already the middle of February. I remember telling people in December that we should try to get together in January when things slowed down. Hmmm....that hasn't happened yet. Fortunately I think we've all enjoyed being busy. Every now and then we need a break, but overall life has been really good.

The girls are doing great and continue to enjoy spending most of their time together. Danyka is now enrolled for Kindergarten at the public school down the street. What a crazy thought! We won't find out what track she will be on until the end of May or early June. We also signed Whitney up for Preschool next year. Both Danyka and Whitney are still enjoying their dance classes. They will participate in their first recital in July. We're looking forward to it.

Scott and I have been keeping busy with lots of extracurricular activities. We still attend a couples Bible study on Tuesday nights and have been blessed with great friendships and fellowship. Just over a month ago, we committed to helping out with the college group. It is a great group of students. We meet on Thursday nights and often find ourselves spontaneously getting together with students at other times during the week.

I am also kept busy with my Heart 2 Heart commitments and my gym membership. My favorite class at the gym is Zumba. It's especially fun when friends are there to laugh with.

Unfortunately I haven't been great about getting the camera out lately. I have snapped a few random shots and then I took quite a few pictures on Valentine's Day. Scott and I had a blast taking the girls to see High School Musical on Ice. The best part was the girls' reactions. "Wow!" "Awesome!"

January and February have been fun and busy. No longer will I tell people, "Let's get together next month when things slow down." I don't see things slowing down for a while. Now when we want to hang out, we just have to find a date and mark it on the calendar.