Surfin' Girls!

Last week, we headed into St. Auggie for some much needed R&R before the fall semester started. Nate and I got to go an excellent cruise, as well. More on that later. While we were in St. Aug, we headed to the beach and splash park. We have been telling Lily for about two years that once she learns to swim, Daddy will take her surfing. Well, she learned, so Daddy had to follow through. She had sooo much fun!

Ava driving the car before we headed to the beach.

Lily and Daddy headed out!

Ava decided she would play it safe and stick to the sand while Sissy was out surfing.

Does it get cuter than this?

After watching Lily for awhile, Ava decided she would give it a try, too.

After the beach, we headed up to the splash park so the girls could get rinsed off.

Lily trying to drink the water...ick.

Winners!

Zhu-Zhu Pets Winner:


Congrats, Beckie! I will be sending you an e-mail for your contact info shortly!

SunBurst Laundry Detergent Winners:






Congrats, Lark, Jillian, Carey, Lulu, and ChasingBlue! I will be contacting you shortly for you shipping info!

Thanks to everyone for participating in these giveaways!

Zhu-Zhu Pets Review and Giveaway (Closed)

I was recently given the opportunity to review a brand new toy that is not even available in stores yet! This toy is called Zhu-Zhu Pets. It is a battery operated hamster and habitat for it to play in. Zhu-Zhu Pets sent us two hamsters and most of the playsets from their new line. I have to say, I was a little skeptical about this toy actually being interesting to my kids. My three year old, however, loved it! She has been playing with her hamster non-stop since we opened the package! The little hamsters are pretty cute and they make some really fun little noises!
Zhu-Zhu Pets has a wide variety of playsets for the hamsters to play and interact on. Even a traditional hamster wheel for the little guys to run on!
Different playsets trigger different noises and each hamster has it's own unique personality. One of the hamsters they sent us crows like a rooster! The other is a little more quiet and stick more to small squeaks and coos.
I have to say, I think these are pretty neat toys. We are very anti-noise making toys, but these are not too obnoxious and they turn themselves off after a few minutes of not being interacted with. They are a great alternative if you have a little one who wants a pet (like my daughter) but either don't want to deal with the care of a real hamster or are not allowed to have pets due to where you live(like us). The only complaint I have is that the habitat areas are not the easiest to get together and do not stay together super well. That being said, I would still recommend these as great Christmas (or otherwise) presents for toddlers.

MomSelect and Zhu-Zhu Pets would like to offer you a chance to win your very own hamster and slide! Just leave a comment on this post telling me the name of your favorite Zhu-Zhu Pets Hamster! On August 31st, I will have my girls draw a name and will put up a new post announcing the winner! Good luck everyone!

I would like to thank MomSelect for the opportunity to do this review and giveaway!

Random Stuff...

I've got a few random things to post from the last couple of weeks. First up are a couple of pics from a mall trip with my grandmother last week. She got the kids some super yummy cookies which they thoroughly enjoyed...thoroughly.

We spent a lot of time at the pool last week. We wanted to get Lily swimming this summer and, it looks like we finally did! She can dog paddle with best of 'em! Next step, getting her to put her face in the water!

Oh, and didI mention that Ava is over her fear/ dislike of the water. Way over it.

Climbing in the 8ft. 6in. deep end, no big thing, just a smidgen over her head.



And, she loves to kick. She wants to everything like big sis, so it's no surprise that she now wants to swim!

Ahhh, Lily...

Lily is going through this stage (at least, I hope it's just a stage) where she only wants to wear dresses. So, this morning I picked out clothes for her and had the audacity to try to get her to wear a t-shirt and a skirt. Now, I did not pick out some icky old t-shirt. It was a fairly new t-shirt, purple, with a mermaid with pink sparkly hair on the front! Lily looks down on the shirt after she has it on, glares at the pink sparkly hair and says, "But, it's not even pretty!" Lily 1 (more like 100,783), Mom 0. I let her pick a dress...

10 Things.

1. Ava getting over her fear of the water!

2. Family who is willing to watch our monsters for a whole 5 days!

3. The end of the PGA Championship (I am so sick of golf).

4. Lily learning how to swim!

5. In-laws who like to go on cruises and take us with them!

6. Nana coming to visit :)

7. A sweet hubby who takes the girls to the pool all by himself.

8. Another sweet niece on her way (my sis-in-law is having girl #8 in December).

9. Old Disney movies...I forgot how much I love Aladdin...

10. Bubble baths (just because).

So, what are you thankful today?

6 Years.

Yesterday, was our 6th anniversary. I absolutely cannot believe it has been that long! In the past 6 years we've moved 4 times, both gotten bachelor's degrees, had two beautiful little girls, made it through three years of dental school, and so much more. I love you, Nathan!

A pic from our first few months of being married.

We had a great time celebrating yesterday. Nate made an incredible dinner of lobster, steak, and shrimp with loaded baked potatoes and salad. Yum. Then, we went and got ice cream with the kids. Lily was so cute. She kept asking me when we were going to get married. What a nut!

New Skirt(s)

Here are a couple of cute skirts I made for the girls today. I love the way Lily's turned out! So cute! I used this tutorial. It's very similar to the skirts I have been making, but, well, better. I like the pockets on Lily's. The color is off in these pics, but I am sure there will end up being more pics of the kiddos in these.

Lily's skirt.

A close up of the pocket...

Ava's...no pockets...she's too short still :)

Crackin' Me Up

So, Sesame Street has a Law and Order: SVU spoof-like skit they do and it is hilarious. It's called, Law and Order: Special Letters Unit. Any of you who watch SVU will get a kick out of the puppets who are made to look just like the characters in SVU. They also do the dunh-dunh sound that you hear in the Law and Order shows, but they do it like all the time. So funny. Here is an episode:

Butterfly Museum Fun

Earlier this week, we went to the Amazing Butterflies Exhibit at the Museum of Natural History with Kim and Madison. It was such a cute exhibit. The kids got to go through a maze that took them through the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly.

Here they are learning to walk like caterpillars.

Climbing on leaves.

Lily making her cocoon.

Uh oh! She got caught in a spiderweb (and she sure looks happy about it).

Here she is flapping her wings to attract a mate.

Here are hte butterflies the girls made. Even Ava made one!

Here they are watching a puppet show. Check out the petrified look on Ava's face. The kid hates anything that moves that she doesn't think should be moving (for example, puppets that look like stuffed animals).

Checking out the cocoons before we headed out to the butterfly garden.

Ava really liked the turtles and fish.