Daddy's Girls

Another duck season has come and gone as of today. Matt said yesterday may have been the best day of the season and I know he's sad to see it end. It flew by for me this year. Probably because I'm busier than I have been in the last few years but we are really excited to have him home next weekend! 

Lilli had her first real sleepover last night. She's spent the night with family without me before but this was the first time with a friend. It started as an after school play date but around 7 last night Rebecca texted and said she was invited to spend the night. I wasn't sure how it was going to go. (Even at Jen's house she gets scared of the dark and misses me) But I packed a bag and dropped it off so she could try. She did FaceTime right before bed and got a little teary but it only lasted a few minutes and she went straight to sleep. She did NOT want to come this morning either. She kept saying (through her tears) that she wanted to stay 2 nights. I told her that's not a sleepover, that's a vacation! :) I knew this day was coming but I can't believe she was ready for this. I'm glad it was at friend's house we'd known for years or else I may have gotten emotional. Growing up too fast! 

At Lilli's birthday dinner the other night I asked her birthday interview questions for the 4th year in a row.  1. What is your favorite color? Light orange 2. Favorite toy? Kion stuffed animal (she had just bought with her own birthday money) 3. Favorite fruit? Watermelon  4. Favorite show? Good Luck Charlie 5. Favorite lunch? Subway 6. Favorite outfit? Don't have one, well maybe zebra pj 7. Favorite game? Playing puppies with Katie  8. Favorite snack? Marshmallow and raisin  9. Favorite song? Song playing on Dolphin Tale when Winter learned to swim  10. Favorite animal? Dolphin 11. Favorite book? Any animal book 12. Best friend? Chloe 13. Favorite cereal? Chex 14. Favorite thing to do outside? Play dinosaur with Katie  15. Favorite drink? Strawberry water 17. Favorite holiday? Other than my birthday? Christmas  18. Favorite breakfast? Cereal 19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? We were at Outback per her request- same as last year  20. What do you want to be when

The scariest 10 minutes of my life were from 4:20-4:30 this morning. That was from when our home alarm went off until the 911 dispatcher told me the police said it was ok to go to the door. I had grabbed the girls, locked the bedroom door and we were huddled in the closet. I'm ashamed to admit that grabbing my gun was not my first instinct (and my father in law hangs his head wondering where he went wrong right now- Love you Cap'n, and don't worry, it will be if there is ever a next time :) and once we were locked in I really didn't want to go back out.  Thankfully it looks to be only a faulty alarm                     This piece fell off  but that was the end of my sleep for the day. The girls were rattled but they had no problem.  And through it all, Jackson never got out from under my covers. I think Bella may be staying here when Matt goes to the camp for a little while. I thank God this morning for being safe and that it wasn't more serious. But also for alarm

Happy Birthday to the sweetest, smartest and funniest 6 year old I know! We love you so much!  She got the best surprise at lunch. Yaya was there! She showed up with a birthday crown, cupcakes and her present from Granna, a half a dozen roses. This has been the sweetest tradition. Each year Yaya has given her a rose for each year with a card "from" my Mom. She's never missed a year so I don't know why it always surprises but it does. And tears follow each time. I know my girls will never know her, but because of all the people that loved her, we will always keep her memory alive. 

Lilli got her birthday surprise early on Thursday evening. As we finished dinner I brought out a bag full of coloring books, colored pencils, snack cups, and the biggest surprise... 3 tickets to see Wild Kratts Live in Austin, Texas. She missed school on Friday so we could leave early for the long drive. It took about 6 1/2 hours with stops so we got to Kelly's house around 3:30. The girls got a few hours of playing time in with Andrew before we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  He came back to GranJan and Papa Roy's house with us for a slumber party. And party they did! We didn't get them to bed until after 10:00 and they were up at 6:00.  At least we were able to have a leisurely morning. We played and slowly got ready until we met Kelly, Adam and Brooks for lunch. We went to a place called Phil's which had the best burgers and a playground for the kids. Can't get better than that! I burger restaurant where running around and playing is encouraged. :) From

Lilli is really thriving at Apollo. On top of being student of the month in November, she also won a contest put on by the Veterans of Foreign Wars with her coloring of the American Flag. We'll attend an awards dinner on February 9th for that. And then yesterday, she was one of 6 kindergarteners chosen to recite a poem in front of the judges for the American Heritage Poetry Contest. Thanks to Yaya coming to watch the little 3 kids, I was able to go watch.  She did a great job! She was confident and articulate and said it perfectly. She was disappointed that she didn't win the trophy and move on to the next round but it was a good lesson that you can't win them all. She was gracious and said the boy that did win did great and that probably made me more proud than anything.  Then last night, we had a really special treat and went to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner. This is not a typical thing we do on a Wednesday night but it was Katie's reward for finally learning to quit cra

Lilli lost that other tooth last night. She got to use her new box that she got at her birthday party but was a little worried the tooth fairy wouldn't find it. So we left her a note!  She responded too.  I guess that answers her questions. ;) And on a different note. This came up on my timehop yesterday.  I can't believe it's been a year (yesterday) since Bella joined the family. In some ways it feels like this picture was yesterday. But it also feels like she's always been part of the family. Look how small she was! 

We had Lilli's 6th birthday party at The Party Barn yesterday. It made a very full weekend to have to rush away from the camp on Sunday to get the cake and get set up. But she wanted ALL her cousins to be able to go and how can you say no to that? They were all able to come plus several of her friends and we had a great time.  They jumped in a bounce house while we waited for everyone to get there.  From there we moved inside for cake And then presents And then the highlight of the afternoon, the pony rides!  Katie loved the horses and didn't get out of line until we told her it was over. Lilli liked that part but her favorite part was "the presents." She got tons of crafty gifts. Our living room is covered and she's been playing since we got home yesterday. Luckily it's a school holiday so she has the rest of the day before we have to clean it up. :) 

The "Craig side" of the family all got together at the cabin for our annual hunting weekend. It's the 5th year we have all been able to do this and we are so thankful for the chance. It's the one time of year Ryan and Holman duck hunt and they always have the best time. They did pretty well too.  It's so special to be able to have this time with my sisters and cousins. We stayed up by a fire until midnight Friday night (and that's really late for us!) laughing the whole time. Pops and Honey came too but they stayed at our house and drove up for the day on Saturday.  The little cousins love their time together too and are rarely indoors. They all love to ride and Daniel is old enough to drive a Polaris now so they must have made a million laps around the yard.  Between that and the tractors, they stayed entertained.    He even got to drive them when we went down the hill. I think he felt like the coolest kid ever  We capped off their night with leftover sparkle

Both of our girls are growing up so fast right before our eyes. (Sniff) Lilli lost her 3rd tooth tonight. Just a little over a year after she lost her first.         The tooth fairy is coming tonight!  And she has 3 more loose ones! Her lower right incisor is just about ready. Matt was ready to pull that one tonight too but she wasn't ready to let him. And her top two front teeth are just starting to wiggle.  Katie is getting to be a "big girl" too. She is on day 6 of being in panties with no accidents. (She still wears a pull-up at night though). As thrilled as I am to not change diapers anymore, a part of me will miss the last thing that made her still a "baby". But I'm sure that won't last. ;) 

Miss Josephine turned one last Tuesday but her party was yesterday so the girls and I drove over for it. It was a party fit for an Indian princess and Rachel had it so cute.  But of course nothing could be as cute as the birthday girl herself  (And her Yaya) Here is her smash cake before And here it is after  But she did have some help from her brother and cousin  They were trying to teach her how to Smash her face in it  But this little prissy wanted nothing to do with it  We partied for a few hours and then brought Austin back with us to the hotel for a slumber party. We swam for about 45 minutes  Then took a shower and ate party food for dinner And then all 4 of us crawled in to bed I had big plans for a bottle of wine and Netflix on the iPad after they went to sleep but they are exhausting so I went to sleep too. I didn't know how it was going to go but they all slept till 6:40 and then we went down for breakfast  We brought Austin back home after and as Lilli said "didn&#