A Toy Adventure

It has been an adventure at our house and I have been wanting to blog about this for awhile.  It all started when I was walking up the stairs one day and saw this.  It's a Spiderman squinkie.  Just sitting there.  Staring at me.

A couple days later, I saw this on Preston's desk.  Star Wars squinkies.  Just sitting there.  Staring at me.

Then, I saw this sitting on the laptop.  It's a Cars squinkie.  Just sitting there.  Staring at me.

I think we all see where this is going.  Preston has always loved playing with his toys all over the house.  He doesn't like to stay confined in one area.  He seemed to get even more particular with how he positions his toys.  

Then, I saw this.  It was a car full of squinkies that looked like they were trying to make a getaway.  I had to start documenting his toys.  

I never really paid attention to how Preston played with his toys.  But I knew he always had a rhyme and reason to everything he did with them.  As I started watching even closer and asking him questions about his toys, the answers were hilarious!!!  

Preston only uses his cars (he has hundreds!), animals (loves to collect them), and squinkies (they are so incredibly tiny but don't hurt your foot when you step on them).  They are always on a mission.  Sometimes the toys are running from bombs, other times, they are having tornado practice.

He loves to group similar toys together.  The hippos were resting during their journey.

The frogs are out and about.

Here come some motorcyclists.

Firetrucks stick together.  So do snakes.

Their adventures include going up and down the stairs.

Or under the piano.

They are all lined up waiting for the bomb to go off upstairs.  Then they can return (see, it's hilarious!).

No animal, car, or squinkie is off limits.  This is a horse that belongs to Kaitlyn's American Girl Dolls.  It's now part of the adventures.

I have started documenting these adventures on Instagram (that's why some of the pictures have a different look to them) and Facebook.  You can follow it at #atoyadventure.  I promise, Craig and I have never influenced Preston during his playtime with his toys.  He comes up with all of it on his own and it's absolutely amazing to watch.  He can play with them for hours at a time.  That kid has such a creative mind and is so incredibly particular about certain things, that we can't wait to see what God has in store for his future.

Our house is a house that is lived in.  You walk in and know that there are kids living here, whether it's the pictures on the fridge or toys lined up on the floor.  Yes, toys have been stepped on sometimes and I even had to perform minor surgery on a giraffe leg (super glue is awesome), but we are going to let all the adventures continue.  Thank you so much to those that have given us such positive feedback and are following the adventures with us.  Along with you, we are eagerly waiting to see what adventure is next.

Valentine's Day 2013

Valentine's Day.  A day of love.  A day of goodies.  A day of a jam packed schedule!!!

I finally got my mantle decorated the day before Valentine's.  I made the cute banner at my MOPS meeting and quickly displayed it.  The red balls are made of tulle and that's red crinkle paper in the hurricane jars.

I made sure to have strawberry muffins waiting for Kaitlyn and Preston when they woke up.

Of course, they had some other surprises waiting for them.  These shirts were from one of our countdown days.  They loved finding something new in their box for 14 days!  

This was one of the gifts I made for Craig.  It lists dates that are important to us.

He gave me beautiful yellow roses.

We had a Top Hat and Tutu Day at my work.  I had to decorate a top hat...

...and added it to a headband.  My sweet friend offered to make me a matching tutu.  It's sooo cute!

It was a day of black and red for me.  I just love those colors!

I then raced over to the kids school to be part of their class parties.  Kaitlyn decorated her bag so nicely. 

And here's Preston's box.  Ever the boy with the big imagination, he wanted his car stickers to be "crashing" into each other.

Kaitlyn had so much fun at her party.

She had lots of goodies.

After exchanging Valentine's, they played some games.  The first game was "Stack the Conversation Hearts".

Then, the kids had to toss the cotton balls into baskets on top of each other's heads.

I ran to Preston's class (actually, I went back and forth a lot between their classes) where he was having just as much fun.

His class decorated their own cupcakes.  You know, sometimes it's really nice to be married to a grocery store manager (well, all the time actually).  Craig asked his baker to make 2 dozen plain cupcakes and put the icing on the side.  The baker actually sent several piping bags of colored icing which made it even more fun and less messy.

The kids got to fill a glove full of candy!

They also played "Lifesaver Relay" which was hilarious.  Preston and Kaitlyn were very eager to come home and go through all of their goodies.   

Of course, for dinner we had our traditional heart-shaped pizza...

...and homemade cheesecake for dessert.

And we all went to bed completely exhausted!!!

Sea Life

The four of us recently had a Saturday off together, which doesn't happen often, so we were ready to go do something.  It was the last day of the Stock Show and Rodeo in Ft. Worth so we got dressed for it.  First, we headed out to do our taxes.  While sitting with the accountant, I checked th Stock Show schedule and saw it was SOLD OUT!!! Ugh!!!  So, at the last minute we decided to try the new Sea Life Aquarium not far from us.

 

Even though we were dressed in our country attire, the kids were excited to go.  Here are several pictures of the sea life.

 

 

I just love to watch their curiosity when they don't realize we are watching.

 

Kaitlyn was listening intently to an educator speak about sea horses.  Notice she still has on her cowgirl hat!

Then there are other times that they love to ham it up for the camera.





Daddy Daughter Date Night

Recently, Chick Fil A hosted a Daddy Daughter Date Night and Kaitlyn and Craig were eager to go.  Craig came home from work and brought a rose for his date.  She was so happy!!!

 

They were ready to go on their date and Preston and I spent time together.

They arrived at the restaurant that was so nicely decorated for the special occasion.

 



Waiting at the tables were some fun questions for Daddy/Daughter to ask each other.

Then, they were told to head outside for a surprise.  The windows were also decorated (that's not the surprise).

 

A horse and carriage waited for them!  This was Kaitlyn's first time on a carriage ride and she loved it!

 

Kaitlyn thoroughly enjoyed the glittery hooves!!!

Craig and Kaitlyn came home with a great memento with the Chick Fil A cow that is proudly displayed on the refrigerator.



I am so glad they had a great night together creating such special memories.