A New Ride ((VIDEO))

So we finally broke down and got the girls a power wheels.  Hayden was super excited to get in and drive, Abbie was excited for the ride and ticked that she couldn't drive.

It took Ethan a little bit to fully assemble it and then for Hay to bedazzle and sticker it. But once it made it outside, Hayden was all over the yard. Of course she took that opportunity to chase Chili Dog around, haha.  Abbie rode with her for a few rounds but then quickly escaped after one fast ride.  I foresee a lot of yard time spent on the trampoline, slides, and Jeep this summer!

Finally Outside ((VIDEO))

During Spring Break last week the weather got warm enough that the kiddos could actually play out in the back yard!  The trampoline got a lot of use and Abbie learned that it wasn't as scary as it used to seem. Hayden decided to perfect some of her trampoline tricks!



Abbie mastered the slide as well!

Thankful for the nice warm weather break and the chance to be outside, even if it was short lived.

Five for Friday..on Saturday

So it's Saturday...Saturday night at that and I'm just now doing a 5 for Friday post :) I'm determined to get it posted while it's still Saturday and it's getting pretty close but I think we'll be okay, haha.  I realized I hadn't posted in a while and figured this was the best way to just download what we've been up to.  I definitely don't think I'll be able to keep up this frequency when school starts (which is coming WAY too fast for me and not soon enough for Hayden).

And here we go -- why not make it Six for Saturday...

1.  Speaking of school and Hayden, I saw her school supply list this past week.  She'll be going to the Fair Grove Preschool program 2 days a week this year. She is soooo excited. Not sure she knows exactly what she's in for but I know she'll do great!  We're going to take her tomorrow to get some of her supplies.  I'm kinda thinking we're asking for trouble though because she has to hang onto them until the 15th of Aug when she starts.  Kinda like telling her that her birthday is in 2 weeks...every day at least twice a day we'll hear "Is it almost time?"  :)  Love her!

2. And then there's my school.  This coming week is the last week the girls will be here at the house with me :'(  The following week they'll be at the sitter's house full time as I'm back in the classroom, officially starting my time on the 9th with meetings all day. Yuck.  I've been going into the classroom at least once a week to start unpacking boxes and putting everything back where ti goes.  I'm soo ready for the routine and rhythm of the school year and to be with my new students, just not looking forward to the fewer hours with my girls and feeling pulled in every direction.  But, I always manage.  I'm very lucky to love what I do and have an amazing school to be at so that makes those downsides sooo much easier.

3.  Hayden had a huge achievement this week.  We met mom in Bolivar on Wed for Hay to go back with her and stay the night at the farm.  What surprised us was that she ended up staying THREE nights!! Willingly (according to mom).  I knew she would have a great time but really surprised that she managed 3 nights without having meltdowns missing me.  Seriously.  She really did have a great time. Sounds like she spent it just like I did growing up...playing outside with the kittens, adventures with Grandma, running around naked, swimming, and being outside all the time.  I loved that Dad would send me picture texts and videos.

4. Sweet Abbie sure showed her personality while Hay was at the farm. It was really great to have lots of one-on-one time with her and do some bonding.  She is a lovey little one with a determination like something fierce!  She is sooo stinkin smart too.  We've realized that she's able to follow simple one-step directions (put it in the trash, give to daddy, put it in the box, get your diaper, etc) and is excited to do them.  She wants to be involved with everything and so we still hear a lot of squeals and hollering when we don't realize soon enough what it is that she's wanting.  She also LOVES music.  Here's a video of her new dance moves, spinning as well as a video of her singing.  Again, so sweet.

5. Canada... Ethan is gearing up for his last week long trip to Canada for work.  He hasn't been there since last fall which was awful planning...he left my first full week of school, and I had a 10 week old Abbie, and the girls were starting at a new sitters.  We survived. But this year it won't be as bad. It definitely helps that I'll not be at work yet and wont have to have any schedules or routines (although I neeeed to be getting everyone up 2 hours earlier than we currently are, ouch).  This should be his last trip up there so he is going to do a lot more sight-seeing and exploring.

6. And lastly -- we went up to Aunt Shirley's today for a Cantrell get together. Shirley and Bill had been down to Alabama to see Brad and Missy and then had brought Laine back with them. We hadn't seen her since she was little bitty!  It was a great afternoon with the Minichs, Hagers, Mildred & John, and then Brian and Haddie (who is super cute!).  Hayden enjoyed playing with the girls and Abbie was content to wander and explore and do her best to do it all on her own.  We actually were able to get a picture of all the great grandkids that were there with John & Mildred.  NINE great grandkids (all girls) and we were only missing one...Morgan.  Pretty impressive!

Whew...it's almost midnight. I think I just might get this posted while it's still Saturday!

Thanks for keeping up with us! And if you haven't "followed" us yet, put your email in the "Follow By Email" box on the right to get email updates or click on the Bloglovin button on the side to get daily updates as well. :)   And we always love comments (I say we....Ethan I think doesn't notice them and the girls could care less...so I guess I'm the one that loves the comments, haha.)

Five for Friday

Linking up with The Good Life for today's Five for Friday.  

(cute blog if you want to check out another new blog)

I'm actually not sure we did anything "worthwhile" this week that would deem exciting to anyone looking inside our little house. But here it is....

1.  Cousin Time

We went back to the farm this past weekend for the annual Rufenacht Camping Reunion.  That's another post all in itself.  However, Hayden had a blast with her Rufenacht cousins.  She had Tyler, Talyn, Gabriel, Aliza, Aiden, Owen and Eli...although she admitted she really only played with Talyn (surprise surprise).  Those two girls really are gonna be a mess in a few years. I'm envisioning weeklong stays during the summer. Not sure what we'll do when they start driving.

2.  Half Training
Have I mentioned that Ethan and I are doing the Bass Pro Half Marathon this fall?  Call us crazy but we're kinda excited. Ask us again in a few months and our story might change.  We're still 20 weeks away but both working on getting some good runs in during the week.  We have another couple that we sneakily convinced  will be running with so it'll be a good time.  The run is on Nov 2nd early in the AM and we would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have supporters cheering for us during the race and then at the finish line.   Expect more details on that later too.

One of my favorite runs: sunsets, flowers, perfect temps

3. Brownies (yeah, brownies)
I know this isn't that exciting to most to anyone else but I made homemade brownies...from scratch. They even got the nod of approval from Ethan and Hayden. Hayden I wasn't worried about but when Ethan raised his eyebrows and nodded, I took that as they were a hit.  I love brownies.   I was wanting to bake some cookies with Hayden and knowing what was in our pantry our choices were limited. We almost got to make oatmeal cookies but I kept seeing recipes for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and once I saw those, the idea of plain jane oatmeal didn't sound so good.  So while Ethan bought some Nestle chips Hayden and I made these brownies I found online.  (I say Hayden and I very loosely...she was somewhere in the house...I think).   Anyways..the brownies were a hit and today I'm working on not eating all of them...at least without Ethan finding out.  *shhhh*

4.  Summer's coming to an end here :(

Summer Fun 

Yesterday I had my first meltdown.  I told Ethan that it was nothing, but just me thinking about having to miss out on these days with the girls.  I have loved almost every moment of being home and the thought of missing out on these random and quite boring moments make me sad. Because I've been able to see Abbie grow into her demanding personality and Hayden's quirky sense of humor and fashion. I've been able to teach the girls about nature and the world around them.  I have been able to help them learn to be nice(er) to each other and use manners...not to mention all those important things that little girls need to know (like how to brush your hair, how to put on your swimsuit the right way, how to hide brownies from daddy, etc).  I am blessed to have  a job that I love during the school year but wow, I'm gonna miss these girls.  Thinking this is about as much as I can write without getting upset (again) but you get the idea.  Gonna miss these girls.

5. And lastly...mainly because I can't think of anything else to write about, here's several videos that I captured this week. Very random, but very much our every day happenings.

Here, Hayden is showing us her Hoop-A-Loop Skills with a song/dance show

Typical day here...when they love each other, they have a great time!

she loves that she knows how to operate her CD player!

Happy Friday!
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She's a Walking Machine

As promised, a better video of Abbie walking. It's amazing the change in just ONE week. She walks more than crawls now and her balance is pretty amazing at times! She does really good at self-correcting and turning.

Typical Lunch Here...

Just wanted to share a video of lunch here at the Cantrell House these days...

Abbie is Walking!

Here it is! Video of Abbie walking! She's been taking steps every now and then buy actually walking places more so now. She still crawls most times, as it is faster. 

We tried to get a good video but this was the best one.  I'll try to get another one when she's got more oomph in her. :-)

Sweet Abbie...now if she'd only get some teeth, haha!

Belly Laughs

Abbie's got the giggles....
 

and yes...when she falls off the couch she was fine :)

Looking Back

Was looking through my youtube posts and saw this one...from a year ago yesterday.




And this is a baby Hayden...I THINK at almost one year:

And Here Come the Videos

I figured out how to upload videos from YouTube (not as tricky as I expected) so hopefully this works.  All of my YouTube videos are now unlisted so Im hoping that you can see these videos if they are posted here.  First one to leave me a comment and tell me whether or not they can watch the video gets a high-five the next time I see them!

This video is of Hayden teaching Abbie about hand washing in an appropriately named song video "You Need to Wash Your Hands"



And this video is Abbie just learning to use her walker 2 weeks ago. She is sooooo close to walking right now. She wants to be up and going fast but still needs a steadying hand.




And lastly, this video is of Abbie's terrible table manners, taken today...May 23, 2013.  I blame Ethan (actually I fully blame Hayden, but she's too young to defend herself)


Alright -- the blog is all up-to-date for the most part.   Make sure you have Followed the blog (type in your email on the right side) to get all the updates and when there's something blog worthy I'll be sure to post it.


Whew - Krista