Daddy's Girls

Ms. KatieJane had an extended party this weekend. It got to start yesterday with a sleepover with the cousins. She told me over a month ago, when I asked what she wanted for her birthday, that the only thing she wanted was a sleepover with Josey at her house. ❤️ And it actually got to happen!  They got here about 7:00 last night and had a little over an hour to play on the waterslide before dark, and then stayed up until after 10:00 giggling in her room.  By 8AM, we had had cereal, cinnamon toast and snow cones for breakfast  And they played another hour on the waterslide before leaving for her soccer game. She was so excited to have her cousins there to cheer her on! We got back around noon and set up for the gymnastics 🤸‍♀️ themed birthday party that was starting at 2:00. I decided to go super simple and do only individually packed snack foods. The only thing I made was the cake and it turned out super cute. We had 15 kids and 9 adults and it was a nice afternoon. The kids mostly pl

I think Ms. Kathleen has had a wonderful 9th birthday! It started VERY early with a table full of decorations and presents. Even Lillian asked to wake up 15 minutes early so she could watch her open her cards and gifts. She got a floor beam and snow cone machine with all the syrups and everything to get started.  Yaya picked her up at lunchtime and they went to Chimi’V’s, shopping at Target, and to Andy’s. She got clothes, a Lego set and a basketball hoop from her and Capn so I think she’s set on new sports to do. ❤️ They met us at Lilli’s softball lesson so I could get Kathleen and Yaya could watch for a bit. Lillian learned some cool new tricks today and we are keeping our fingers crossed she’s ready for tomorrow’s tryout. But even if not, she’s going to keep up with lessons and join a league in the fall because she’s having fun. When we got home, she and Matt practiced a little more while me and Katie played soccer  And we all came in and had sushi for dinner at her request. She’d b

It’s been hitting me lately how much our kids are growing up. According to her teacher, Kathleen just learned the last skill that she needs to make the gymnastics team and should most likely move up after competition season this summer.  She is also really loving soccer even though her team has yet to win a game this season. 😉 Lillian has been working hard on softball skills in hopes of making the middle school team and her art is becoming amazing. She did the beta fish in talented art class and the elk was just a “doodle” for Matt after they watched a show together and he mentioned he wanted to go elk hunting one day. I think it’s an impressive doodle! Easter Timehop from this year vs. 8 years ago is crazy too! Where does this time go?? But the kids growing up is definitely not without some benefits too.  Matt and I left the girls home while we had a lunch date today. We’ve left them several times while we ran errands but this was the first time to go out just for fun and it’s a whol

We had a wonderful weekend in Baton Rouge with lots of celebrating. It started Friday night at Jennifer’s house with a family dinner to celebrate Kathleen’s birthday. We were there, as well as Jen, Ryan and the girls, Pops and Honey, Nana, Lizard, Allie and Jimmy and Theresa. She got gifts from everyone and we had burgers and sides with brownies since Kathleen isn’t big on cake. The girls stayed the night with the cousins while Matt and I stayed at Dad’s.  On Saturday, Matt and I went to have coffee with Nana before going to pick up everyone from the Schwab house to go to Michaelyn and Rick’s for the day. They have a great house on the river in Covington with a pool and party barge and it was a nice day. The kids finally got some time in the pool (It made us want our pool fixed so bad but there is no end in sight for that) We sat around visiting and they fixed a HUGE lunch of ham, turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and dressing. The kids hunted eggs And we went on

I use this blog to save pictures as much as having a place for family to keep up with us. So here is what had been going on the last few days: We had a sleepover Friday night for the girls. Lilli invited Carlie over and it was the first time they’d hung out one on one. Britney came for Katie and it was the first time she’d come since Heather was going through chemo before Christmas, and also the first time without her sister with her. Matt ended up working until 4AM so we decided to make it a girls night and go out to eat, and the big girls requested Olive Garden. They also got to sit at their own table for the first time (not even close to me) and Lillian said it was stressful, lol. She didn’t know how to answer when the waitress asked if she wanted breadsticks and said she didn’t know what an entree was. 🤣 It was a good life lesson. Yaya and Capn came to watch Katie’s soccer game Saturday morning and the rest of the day was spent relaxing. Even Lillian took a 3 hour nap so we all ne

We had the BEST weekend with my Dad and Allie to celebrate her birthday. (She turns 38 tomorrow.) It had been 4 years since she’d been up to visit and we really had a nice time. She had to work on Friday so they didn’t get in until about 10:30 that night. We did a quick tour of the house and everyone was in bed by 11:15. We woke up the next morning and cheered on Katie and The Hawks in her soccer game.  We went straight from there to the deer camp to spend the afternoon fishing, canoeing and shooting. Dad was so mad the girls outshot him with his own rifle! (Not really- the pic was a joke of course, he was SO PROUD) but poor Gypsy didn’t like it. Lilli thought her face was hilarious and I found it funny she clung to my Dad as much as me. They really bonded while we were in the Keys.  We ended the evening with a nice birthday meal, with cake and presents, and sitting on the porch until dark.  We had coffee on the porch this morning and headed out about 10:00. It was a quick visit but so