New Picture Frames

It really does amaze me that more things did not break when we moved from our first home on Mulberry Court to our current place of residence.  We sold our house back in the spring of 2011.  We had to be out of our house by the end of June.  The end of June also happens to be a very busy time of year with exams, culminating projects, and report cards.  But we also did not get our current place until the end of July.  This left us in limbo for over a month.  

Being the sometimes organized person that I am, I started packing already at the end of April.  Many boxes were packed during May.  We then transported boxes and more boxes to Brian's work.  There he stacked the boxes onto wooden pallets and plastic wrapped them.  

When we finally moved into our house and unpacked that July, surprisingly the only thing that had broken was this picture frame. 

Here is a close up of the damaged frame.

This is the back of the frame.  Once I took it off the wall it basically fell apart.

So I had a broken frame hanging on the wall for over 2 years.  Recently Michael's had a Buy 1 frame get 1 frame free deal.  I just happened to be looking at frames and saw these sweet frames.  I instantly knew these were the frames to replace my broken frame.

Today I had a few minutes to spare before picking up the girls after school.  I decided I would take the pictures out of the old frame and put them in the new frames.  I was even able to use the same mats. 

Here is the finished product.

Sorry for the poor quality pictures.  I was using my cell phone and not my regular camera.  

One broken frame in the garbage and 1 lonely frame looking for a place to be hung.

Until next time...

Can You Believe It?

Can you believe that it has been six years already?  6 years ago on February 9th,  I  became a mom of twins, 10 weeks earlier than expected. Its Hard to Believe but... is a link from my blog 3 years ago.  It was a brief reflection on Jaelyn and Ava's first 3 years.  Much of what I posted then is still relevant now.  

Despite their bickering and fights, I have 2 little girls who also show so much love to each other. They also love their family and friends greatly.  But most of all, I love the fact that they both "love Jesus and God", as they put it.  

Ava's notes during church

I am thankful that I have blessed with 2 healthy growing girls with a super abundance of energy.   Even though it seems that everything involves a cartwheel, handstand, or roundoff. 

The girls had a party with school friends on the Saturday before their birthday.  Jaelyn's list comprised mostly of boys from her class while Ava's list was mostly the girls.  We decided to keep the party simple.They decorated cookies and cupcakes and we took them tobogganing by the creek by our house.

On their actual birthday, they invited some friends from church.  Again they got to decorate their cookies and cupcakes.

Jaelyn and her cupcake

Ava and her cupcake

Yummy 

Tobagganing

Jaelyn & Ava on their birthday

Each day we are given with our children is a blessing and  tomorrow will continue to be a new adventure. I look forward to the continuing journey in the days and years ahead.

Our Trip to Chicago

This past year, Jaelyn and Ava were introduced to the world of American Girl. They were determined to go to American Girl and buy their own doll.  Their cousin, Savannah, went to the New York store and I mentioned that Chicago was much closer. The next thing I knew, they were telling people they were going to New York and Chicago so they could go to American Girl.  
Jaelyn and Ava do not have a true concept of money. Often they would empty their piggy banks and count their coins. In their little world, one coin equals one dollar. Therefore Jaelyn thought her $24 was more than enough to purchase her doll. If only....
Brian suggested that we continue to Chicago after our trip to Grand Rapids for the Vander Sloot Christmas Party. We booked a hotel and off we went. On our to do list was the American Girl store, deep dish pizza, and Chicago style popcorn.
We walked and walked and found our way to Gino's Pizza. Here we enjoyed some yummy food and drinks. We enjoyed our first deep dish pizza. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Garrett Popcorn Shop. We warmed up during the walks at the Apple and Disney stores. No purchases were made but we got to see some of the latest and greatest Apple products.

Ava and Daddy

Jaelyn and her pizza 

A piece of my pizza

The girls had it all planned who was going to sleep where that night. Jaelyn with mommy and Ava with daddy. Morning came early for these excited girls. We found our way to the top of the hotel and went for a very early morning swim.  

Jaelyn

Ava

For breakfast we went to the McDonalds across from our hotel. It had to be the biggest McDonalds I have ever been to. It had 2 floors. The top floor was set up like a lounge and had memorabilia from each decade since the start of the franchise. 

$0.15 hamburgers

Ava with the 50's stuff

60's....The slinky excited the girls

The 80's was the most exciting since a lot of these
toys are making a comeback today

 Then there was the walk in the cold again to find the American Girl store. The store was still closed when we got there so we took some photos of them waiting. We were the first customers in the store. 

Waiting...

Still waiting...

 We shopped and shopped and Jaelyn and Ava each picked out a doll. Jaelyn ended up with Rebecca and Ava selected Saige. Rebecca is a Historical Character from 1914 and Saige is the 2013 Doll of the Year. The girls each paid for half of their doll. Brian said I was having more fun than the girls...not sure if that was actually true...but pretty close.

Just a little excited

Posing with Saige 

 The American Girl store is in the Water Tower Place. There were 7 floors of shopping fun.  The girls had some fun building in the Lego store. They also enjoyed the Mickey Mouse elevator and the many escalators.

Lego fun

 The walk back to the car was a cold one.  We stopped in the Gap and Garmin stores to warm up.

Daddy walking with the girls and their packages

The Garmin Car
The girls can't read yet...
Sign said, "Do Not Touch Car"

The girls are already planning their next trip to an American Girl store.  I will give you a hint...Here is the photo of the next American Girl store we plan to visit.

What city are we planning to visit?

I am already thinking of all the things I want to do when I return to Chicago when the temperatures are warmer.

City Street

Until next time....