Just Calli and Me!

Lots of people have been asking how it has been just having Calli at home while Cooper and Kendall are both at school. I was so curious how she would do, too! She has always had at least Cooper with her, so this would be a big change to just have me to play with and keep her company all day. She doesn't start preschool until this coming week, and then she will just go two days a week, so we will have lots of Mommy/Calli time!

Well, if I thought she would be sad at all, I was wrong! She was quite excited about some one-on-one time with Mom. On our way home from dropping the girls off on the first day, she started asking me to do all sorts of things we don't do very often, like paint and make bracelets with beads. It's like she realized that with less kids I might be more willing to do things that made more of a mess or something. So funny.

So our first day, we made bracelets, she got to play on pbskids on the computer some, and then she got to come on my birthday lunch with me! She still naps in the afternoons, so that is a good break time for both of us. ;)

Other things we have done have been going to the library, playing Uno and Spot It, I set up a water station for her, we went on a walk, rode bikes in the driveway, played with chalk, and even walked to the park one day for a picnic and met Mary, Sarah, and Savannah! So we've done lots and I think she is thinking this is going to be great!

I asked her to write her name and this is what I got - so proud!

Looking forward to lots more one-on-one time with the last baby at home!

Calli's Meet the Teacher

Calli got to go to Meet the Teacher at Wee Place Thursday night! She has been so patient while the girls started school but she was ready to see her teachers and her class. She is a Cheetah this year, in the 2 day a week 4 year old class and she was excited!

We are so thankful for her teachers. Ms. Jeannie was Cooper's teacher the past two years, and Mrs. Liz is our friend already because her son Tristan is Cooper's friend from preschool! Such great teachers for Calli this year - we're excited!

 

 

And Cooper was so happy to see Ms. Jeannie again. She talks about her and Ms. Nikie all the time and always wants to see them. Everyone was happy that night!

 

 

We are ready for a great year with our little Cheetah!

Twas the Night Before Kindergarten

I forgot to post about our night before school started before I posted about the first day. Randy had taken me on a date for my birthday, but we were back in time to help Mom get the girls to bed and get ready for school the next day. We started by reading Twas the Night Before Kindergarten. Cooper's pre-K teachers, Ms. Jeannie and Ms. Nikie, had given her this book when she graduated pre-K and we enjoyed all reading it together. I love this picture - I love reading with my girls and hope they always remember us reading together like I do with my Mom!

Then we sprinkled Cooper's "Kindergarten confetti" under her pillow! Ms. Woodward had given this to her at meet the teacher, and she said it would help her have good dreams and get good rest. She was so excited when she went to sleep though, and about thirty minutes after we put her to bed, she came out and said, "This confetti is not who-king!"

And I had to record Randy's first day of school napkins for the girls. He cracks me up.

Ready for the first day!

First Day of Kindergarten and Second Grade!

Monday, the 24th, was Cooper's first day of Kindergarten and Kendall's first day of Second grade! I'm not real sure how we got here, but the girls were so excited that I didn't have much time to think about being sad about how fast time is flying.

It was not hard to get them up at 6:50 -  but as the week has gone on that has gotten much harder! They were pretty jazzed about their first day of school though. Woke up easily, got dressed, ate a good breakfast, and were ready by 7:30.

 

 

We made it to school through all the crazy traffic and parking and took a few more pictures in front of the school.

 

Cooper is proud of her new backpack!

 

Here is Kendall in Kinder, First, and now Second grade.

We walked Cooper to her class first! The girls brought homemade chocolate chip cookies for their teachers.

Coop got a little sad and didn't want me to leave right as we needed to go, so Randy took over there and I walked Kendall down to Mrs. Trail's class with Granny. She looked so big at her desk!

 

All day we just kept wondering what they were doing, how they were feeling, and counting down the hours until we could go get them. After we picked them up, we went to Chick fil A for some ice cream because Gigi and Peeps had sent money for an ice cream treat after school!

 

After that we went home to get ready for my birthday party that night! It was such a big day and they were worn out when it was finally time for bed that night. Such a great start to what we hope is a great school year! 

Retirement Benefits!

One of the things Granny has been looking forward to in retirement is getting to be here for the girls' first day of school. And we were too! She came down this past weekend on Friday, stayed for the first day on Monday, and went back to Ft. Worth on Tuesday. It was fun to have her here for the big day and to hear all the stories Monday night. We're so thankful she is retired and can come "anytime I want," as Cooper says. :)

Kendall made this banner out of paper for her - a girl after my own heart.

When she got here Friday night, we went out to eat dinner, then went to Shy Pond to play on the new playground the city just installed. The girls have been wanting to go, but it's just been so hot, but after dinner was a great time to be there. They love it!

Saturday we woke up and went to the movies to see the Minion movie. It was so funny and the girls loved the treat of going to the movies. We don't go a ton, so it was a special treat!

 

Sunday we went to church and then to visit with our friends the Allens. Then Mom took the girls home for dinner and baths and Randy took me on a date for my birthday! We enjoyed getting to get away just the two of us.

Then Monday was school! And my birthday! We celebrated with a party at the house Monday night and I loved that Mom got to be here for that. Then Tuesday, we got the girls ready for school and then she left to head back to Ft. Worth! We loved having you here, Mom! Thanks for spending the whole weekend, for celebrating my birthday with me, and for all your back to school help! Can't wait to see you again already!

 

Meet the Teacher day!!

Thursday, August 20th, was the day the girls had been waiting for all summer - when they found out who their teachers were! Cooper was so excited to get Ms. Woodward. She just knew that when you go to Kindergarten, that is whose class you are in, because that is where her big sister was. Very exciting. We love that lady so much!

How is this even possible?!

And Kendall got Ms. Trail, who we have heard great things about! She was excited and excited to learn that she gets to rotate classes in 2nd grade. She will have two other teachers in addition to Ms. Trail, so we met one of those teachers as well. She was happy to hear that she has lots of friends from first grade and Kindergarten in her class. Look how tall she looks!

 

 

We are ready for a great year! And so thankful for our school and for teachers who love our girls!

Cooper's Kindergarten Date

 Last Saturday we picked Cooper up from their sleepover with Michelle and had our Kindergarten date with her! We started this tradition with Kendall and it has been a fun way to spend some time with just each girl before they start school. Before Kendall started, I had just read the book The Circlemaker, by Mark Batterson. In it, he talks about praying boldly and specifically for each of your children. We decided to choose 5 attributes that we wanted to pray specifically for each girl, according to their natural bent and what we hope for them, and then tell them at their date before Kindergarten.

Cooper said she wanted to go to Chick fil A for breakfast for her date, and she chose to wear her Kindergarten shirt on purpose. She is so stinkin excited about starting school. :)

We ate breakfast and then told her about what we were praying for her and gave her the card Randy made.

Here is our prayer for her:

After that, we went to pick out her new backpack for school. She chose "baby rainbow kitties" which is so perfect for her. We love that girl so much.

Cooper, we are praying big things for you as you start school! You are going to do so great and we love how God has made you and how he loves people through you. Go have big adventures - we will be cheering you on the whole way!! Love, Mom and Dad

#SororitySleepover

Ever since the girls knew Michelle was looking to buy a house, they have been asking her to have a sleepover. Once we knew she was closing at the end of July, they said they wanted to have their sleepover before school started. Michelle started planning it and we looked at dates and realized we could do it the Friday after we got home from family camp. We ended up being in Ft. Worth that week for Grandma's funeral, but got home on Wednesday night, and were able to have the sleepover on Friday night. Score!

They were so wound up I can't even tell you. Literally bouncing around the house, saying "It's sleepover day!" over and over again. So excited. At 8:30 Friday morning, Kendall asked if she could call Michelle and tell her it was sleepover day - like Michelle had forgotten. I told her she had to wait until we knew Michelle might be awake since it was her day off.

5:00 finally got here and we took them to Michelle's. And then they pretty much pushed us out the door. Well, Kendall and Cooper did. Calli got a little clingy to me at the last minute, but she got distracted helping Michelle get ready to make pancakes for dinner.
So here was their agenda: pancakes for dinner, make cake balls, go and tp our house, make prank calls, watch movies, and stay up really late. Does it get more fun than all of that?! They felt so big and had so much fun with Michelle.

 

Kendall saw a picture of Michelle, me, Courtney, and Amy toilet papering Randy's house in college and told Michelle she wanted to do that to our house when they had a sleepover. Then she told me about it! I said, "Kendall, you aren't supposed to TELL the person you are tping that you are going to do it - you have to be sneaky." Michelle said she had to work on that with her some more. This picture cracks me up. Michelle didn't even tell Calli to do that - she was just so into it!

 

Then they came back, prank called their parents and their pastor, and settled in for some movies. Michelle said they fell asleep about midnight. Sounds like a successful first #sororitysleepover to me!

 

 

 

 

Great Grandma - Connie Votaw

When we left family camp on Saturday, we met Gigi and Peeps close to Ft. Worth to give them Kendall and Cooper for a few days. Calli was scheduled to have new tubes placed in her ears on the next Tuesday, so they planned to keep the girls for us until her surgery was finished. Procedure. I keep calling it surgery - Randy reminds me it is a procedure. Anesthesia = surgery in my book though.

My Grandma had been sick for several months, and we knew that she was not doing very well before we left for camp. On our way home from Ft. Worth, though, Mom told me that it looked like she would probably pass away very soon. We got home and started some laundry, and then took Calli to Dairy Bar for dinner.

Funny story: When we told Calli that we were taking her back to Lake Jackson and that Cooper and Kendall were going to stay in Ft. Worth with Gigi and Peeps, Calli was a little sad, but then asked, "Can we paint?" I said, "Of course!" Then she was excited. Then on the way home, she said, "Um, can we also get ice cream?" It was so funny - like she was trying to milk this alone time for all it was worth! So that's why we ate dinner at Dairy Bar and then had ice cream. We worried that Calli would be sad for Kendall and Cooper to not be there, but she actually seemed to really enjoy the only child life!

That night at midnight, Mom texted to let us know that Grandma had passed away. We went to church Sunday morning, pulled all our clean clothes out of the dryer, repacked and hit the road back up to Ft. Worth Sunday afternoon. We wanted to be with Mom and with the rest of our family as soon as we could. Randy went with Mom and Scott and Grandpa and my aunt Christie to help plan the service on Sunday morning and I stayed at the house with Calli. They brought Kendall and Cooper back to Mom's with them from Gigi and Peeps' house after their meeting, and we spent the rest of that day and Tuesday swimming and resting and playing at the house. Tuesday night was the visitation and her funeral was Wednesday morning.

Randy and Scott led the graveside portion of the service and did a wonderful job. Grandma was only 75 but she had been very sick and we are thankful that she is with Jesus now and is healthy and well. She loved her three great grand-daughters so much and was very proud of them. She loved to keep up to date on what they were doing and hear funny stories about them. I'm thankful for the memories we have with her and with Grandpa.

This was Christmas 2013, Calli's first Christmas at home with us. We always spent Christmas eve at their house.

And this was Thanksgiving, 2011. Kendall was 3 and Cooper was 1.

 

And I also wanted to have her obituary here so that the girls will be able to read it someday and know more about their great-grandmother. 

 

Connie Votaw, 75, passed away peacefully Saturday, Aug. 8, 2015. Service: 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at Mount Olivet Chapel. Interment: Mount Olivet Cemetery Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Connie was born June 19, 1940, to Toliver and Katherine Hausey and was a 1958 graduate of Diamond Hill High School in Fort Worth. She was a graduate of the University of North Texas and earned a master's degree in painting at Texas Woman's University. She taught science and P.E. at Meacham Junior High and Rosemont Junior High in the Fort Worth ISD and then art for 17 years at Richland High School. After retirement, Connie continued to teach art appreciation at Tarrant County College. She was a member of North Richland Hills Baptist Church for 44 years and was very active in her Sunday school class. Survivors: Happily married for 52 years to Robert Votaw; daughters, Alisa Harms, Stacie Votaw and Christie Votaw; two granddaughters; four great-grandchildren; and sister, Jo Ann Samuels.

Family Camp 2015!

We just went to family camp at the Bluffs at Pine Cove and it was just one of the best weeks ever! Their goal is to make it the best week of your year and it totally was probably one of the best weeks of our year. We all just had so much fun and were so thankful to be there! We looked forward to it all summer and our expectations were not too high - it was a blast!

Family camp is basically church camp for your whole family. We stayed in a cabin together - just our family. It had a queen bed, two bunk beds and a futon, so we even had extra beds. We had our own bathroom with three sinks, two toilets and two showers - plenty of space and such a comfortable place to live for the week! We were there for 7 days and 6 nights and it was just perfect - the perfect amount of time and the best ways to spend it.

I worked at Pine Cove when I was in college, at family camp, so I knew a little of what to expect. We have also had friends start going the past few years so they had told us what it would be like, too. Our friends Amy and David and their girls started going to Pine Cove in Tyler last year, and they were the ones that came home and told us we had to check into it. We signed up to go the same week as them this summer and it was so fun getting to be with them and for our girls to be with Kate, Hannah, Natalie and Vivian. We had just been together two weeks earlier in Longview for our reunion, so the girls were ready to see their "Longview cousins" again.

This is how our days looked: we got up in the morning and all went to breakfast together. The staff serves you every meal and you don't lift a finger to do anything - not even refill your own drinks. They cut the girls' food. Get them more of something. It is awesome. After breakfast, we have family devotionals. Then we took Cooper and Calli to "Cove Kids" and we took Kendall to "Wild Woods" at 9:45. They have their own activities with their counselors while we go to speaker sessions with the camp speaker for that week from 10-12. At 12, Kendall met us back for lunch, but Cooper and Calli stayed with their counselors and ate in Cove Kids. Calli even took a nap there every afternoon! After lunch Kendall would go back with her counselor - Wheaties: Kendall is in love with her - and Randy and I would have free time until we picked all three girls up at 3:15. Some days we sat on Amy and David's porch and visited, every day Amy and I went to Sonic for Happy Hour, and some days we napped! At 3:15, when we picked the girls up, Calli had already napped, so they were ready to play more! We swam in the pool, the girls did the huge slide there, we rode horses several times, played on the playground, or just hung out in our cabin. One day we were able to take just Kendall out on the banana boat with Amy, David, and Kate, and that was super fun. Kendall also did the zip line with her counselor, the girls all rode horses with their counselors, swam, and did all sorts of other fun activities. One of our favorite parts was just watching them try new things, meet new friends, and love their counselors so much.

At 5 we would come in and get showered and ready for dinner. Dinner was at 6 and each night had a theme. Three nights we all dressed up - neon night, holiday night - we dressed up like July 4th - and knights and ninja night. Two of the nights were date nights where we took the kids back to their age groups and they ate and played there with them, doing all sorts of large group games and such and we had time with just the adults. One of those nights we took a sunset cruise on Lake Palestine. It was just the best combination of time together as a whole family, time for just me and Randy, and some time for us to spend with each girl. I got Kendall and Cooper up early separately and spent time with them in the mornings before everyone else was up. We just can't say enough good things about it - Pine Cove does an awesome job!

We have lots of pictures that we took and that also the camp staff took - they aren't in any order, but I just wanted to have them all on here so that I will have them in our books.

Calli with the Cove Kids. They got to draw on horses!

When you drive in the first day, the moms get roses and the dads get root beers. The counselors are all jumping and screaming and are very excited that you are there.

Kendall with her "cabin." Wheaties was her counselor and she is an Aggie! Kendall loved the friends she made in her group.

On the knights and ninja night, there was a rodeo. At one point they asked for two couples to come and compete in a game and our family devo counselor volunteered us. I had to ride Randy like a horse and get these three rings. It was ridiculous.

Date night on the lake!

Our family devo counselor, Coo Bear. She sat in with us for our devo time each morning and we loved getting to know her!

The Mitchell girls minus Vivian when they drove in the first day!

Calli reading a book with Shark Bait in Cove Kids.

Cooper looking big on a horse!

At the pool!

Kendall with Wheaties after she got her CQ - Camper Qualities. Wheaties gave her loyalty and gentleness. Love it!

Kate and Kendall had so much fun together. They are two peas in a pod and loved being goofy together.

On the last night we were there - "Happy Hula-days" theme night.

Love these friends and all these girls!

Out on the sunset "cruise" - but we talked our boat driver into going super fast around all the other boats!

Watching the rodeo!

One afternoon the girls and I did a Mommy and Me craft - we painted a trivet and then they fired it for us.

If you ask Calli what her favorite part is, she will tell you it was the swing. The girls all loved this big swing that was in front of the main building where we ate and had club (family worship).

Amy made the girls all shirts with part of the chants for their age group on them!

Knights and Ninja night - all the Dane and Mitchell girls went as princesses.

On our way to Tyler!

This is the front porch of our cabin.

It was so much fun!! We are so very thankful we were able to go and can't wait to go back again. The girls are all telling us they want to go back "tomorrow!!"