Not Your Sister

The girls are playing with little dolls this morning. I overheard a doll conversation. 

Julia's doll: We are going to have garage sale. You have to choose one thing you don't need anymore to go in the garage sale. 

Aulora's doll: Ok. I pick Carrie. 

Julia's doll: What?! You can't pick your sister! Pick something else to put in the sale! 

Overheard

Aulora: blah blah blah....[random weirdness] blah blah blah

John David: Aulora, stop that! Don't be weird! 

Aulora: [weirdness continues]

Julia: Ugh. Aulora, don't be surprised when you're 27 years old and still not married. Just don't be surprised....

John David: Yeah Aulora. Your husband isn't going to like all this weird stuff you're doing when you get married. 

Julia: IF. If she gets married. I'm telling you Aulora, don't be surprised. 

Random Julia Pictures

Here's my girl! Julia is the mini-mom in our house. 

Seriously, I could just lay in bed and she would take care of everything for me! She is precious and sweet and smart and so funny sometimes. I can't wait to see what she becomes! (Currently she's deciding between either a school teacher or the president. I could see either one!)

 This was her Classical Conversations class this school year for 4th grade. 

Her teacher was Mrs. Katy and Julia LOVED her!

 On her 10th birthday she wanted to go to Salt Grass Steakhouse. Her chocolate cake was huge!

 Curly hair for Christmas!

 Ahhh. School work. We no longer have a school room and desks, but our year did start that way. When we moved we lost that extra room and now we work at the kitchen table or on beds our couches or the floor. Or the car. Or wherever else we want!

 Math can be so tiring.

 Look who got contacts in May of 2013!

 Julia earned Memory Master last year and this year both in Classical Conversations. So proud of her! I don't have a picture of her doing it this year for some reason. 

 Since we've spent a lot of time in both Houston and Dallas this year Julia has had so many friends! 

(The two city thing has been a blessing and a curse. I think we are definitely ready to live in just one city.)

 I love those Chuck E. Cheese pictures!

 Sleepover time with church friends in Houston.

 Cousin love!!!

 More friends! These are two of her buddies from our CC group here in Dallas. 

 This was the day I looked over and realized my little girl was quickly becoming a young woman. Whoa!!!

 It was a relief to find her still playing with her dolls!

 She and John David have a great relationship. Hahaha!

And of course, there has to be a picture of her with her two little buddies. She loves these two a ton!

In Our Car

 In case you've never gone on a ride with us...

 now you can feel like you have.

 Sometimes it gets a little loud.

 Sometimes there is dancing.

 And making fun of Mom kind of dancing.

And sometimes I put on a movie for them, and stick my earbuds in for me.

(Mostly we just listen to our timeline song and our Story of the World CD's though. 

We are super exciting people and that's how we roll.) 

Easter 2014

 After church we spent the day over at the farm. It was a beautiful day! Sadly, I didn't get a picture of everyone together in their nice clothes before the egg hunt AND before John David ran inside and had a lightning fast wardrobe change. 

 There's a lot of places those eggs can be when you've got a lot of land. 

At least this year nobody hid eggs in the middle of thorn bushes like last year!

 My parents got baby bunnies and chicks. It was perfect for Easter. 

(And I can tell you that the chicks are nowhere near this size now!)

 Some bluebonnets scattered about sure made for pretty pictures!

 My niece, Audrey, got in on the candy action.

 Joshua did the best because Daddy was helping him (that's what the other kids say anyway!).

 John David LOVES animals!

Of course, you have to have at least one goofy picture!

It's All Coming Back To Me

We loved living in Indiana. Really, we did. The seasons were beautiful and we even have lovely memories of all the fires and cozy nights during winter. We have missed it so much. 

And then it snowed today. A lot, actually, for Texas. 

A very short time later I remembered the unlovely parts of an Indiana winter. 

Bitter cold. 

Clearing the elements off the car before you could leave. 

Driving painfully slow. 

Freezing your booty off even with the seat heater on that normally burns you. 

Messy car floors. 

Messy house floors. 

Messy bathroom. (Somehow that's the weather's fault. I'm still working on how.)

BUT, it is still beautiful and the kids love it so much! They must be freezing right now, but they're working on a snowman anyway. Their Texas gear doesn't protect them from wet snow too much! (Can you tell I took this from inside?)

And right about now I'm noticing my six year old is wearing wet shoes and NO socks. I guess my post is over! 

Aulora's 7th Birthday

On Aulora's 7th birthday I took the younger three to a children's museum in 

TheWoodlands and then to a splash pad park. Gran went with us too! For dinner we made lasagna at home and cousin Natalia joined us. Happy Birthday, Aulora!