Lu Lu's Bakery

A while back we had a free Saturday morning (which doesn't happen often enough for my liking :) ) Anyway we decided to go to breakfast at LuLu's Bakery. Its been on the show Man Vs Food and is known for the 3 POUND cinnamon roll. I've been wanting to check it out for a while.

Here's Rylee showing us how big it is :)

Then of course Miss Kelsey and myself.

It was fun to try and tasty, but not my favorite as far as cinnamon rolls go. I don't love the crusty part so much and there was quite a bit of that.

Don't worry, it took us several days to eat it.

We were surprised it was only $9

Apparently they are also famous for their Country Fried Steak (or was it Chicken??) which was actually the 'meal' featured on Man vs Food  (he mearely tasted the cinnamon roll) maybe another day we can take a stab at that one.

 

We love Texas-sized anything :)

Daddy Daughter Date

Chick-Fil-A (hereto referenced as CFA) did it again! They hosted a "Dad and Me Night" It was by reservation, which I thought was interesting. Anyway, we reserved a spot for Dad and Rylee. Daddy even asked her if she would go on a date with him. To which she said "NO! I want to go to CFA!" We talked about it all day, and she said she didn't want ot go on a 'date' because dates are scary. The only thing I can think would make her feel that way is when He and I went on a date we left her with a new babysitter and she had a little bit of a hard time with us leaving. S he was however very excited to be going out with Daddy! (Kelsey cried very hard when they left without her. Maybe next time. They made it to the restaurant and there were special tables set up with table clothes, centerpieces, conversation cards (questions for Dad's to ask the kids and visa versa). They even had a waiter, instead of waiting in line. The CFA cow was there for a photo opp and they were given a little time to play in the play place before it was their turn for Rylee's first ride in a LIMOSINE!

She loved it!

After they got back to the restaurant, they got a cookie, ballon and stuffed CFA cow. It was a lovely little double date. Maybe these little ladies will have another opportunity to double. Lets plan next year with their younger sisters first :)

The next morning Rylee asked if she could ride in a big black car again. haha. Who'd have thought my own daughter would beat me out at the 'ride in a limo' experience? Not that that was on my bucket list, but still :) They had a great time and we Love our CFA!! (I tried rotating the pictures but they rotated 180 deg. insstead of 90, so whatever. sorry. turn your head :) )

Birthday * Annual Picnic * Father's Day

We had a weekend packed with celebrations! 1st we celebrated Michael's birthday.  He came home "on time" (rare these days as June is his busiest month).  We celebrated with the girls and then picked up a babysitter and went out.  We saw a ventriliquist/comedian/magician.  It was fun! Some of his tricks really had us stumped. And one of the opening acts reminded us of a friend of ours and it was weirding us out :) His final act had Michael on stage wearing a ventriliquist mask. It was hilarious. Unfortunately no photos . . . . .

 

Saturday was the annual HOA summer picnic: food, games, prizes, pony/train rides, bouncy house, booths, face painting, balloon making- it was pretty much a birthday party.

 

The girls LOVED the pony rides.  Especially Kelsey.

 Kelsey wore the most ridiculous grin the whole time all giddy and giggly.  It was adorable.  This girl loves animals.

 And the most exciting part of the day (for me anyway) was lunch.  We sat down and the announcers were calling for random things to win prizes.   One of which was a clean, unworn diaper - got plenty of those- so I grabbed one out of the bag and headed up front only to realize I'd been beat by someone who took their entire bag and fished it out up front.  As I turned around, I slipped in the muddy grass (we've had a lot of rain recently) and slid (as if I were trying to "steal home") After the gasps I stood up COVERED in mud. The worst part was the diaper was also covered in mud and no longer usable. So I held up the diaper and yelled "how 'bout a dirty one?" "Absolutely". Pretty sure the massage will be worth the embarrasement.

Sunday, Father's Day, was our stake conference: two hours of torture with two toddlers but then we have the whole rest of the day free.  We played a few new games and hung out.  Dad was outside grilling and of course the girls both cried at the backdoor while he checked on dinner, because they followed him inside five minutes prior.

 They love their Daddy.  I can't say I blame them - he's pretty great :)

Happy Birthday/Father's Day!!

Missions Baseball

We kicked off our "summer" with a minor league baseball game. It was a great night to be out side.  Lots of  cloud cover (a little threatening) but it was nice to have the breeze and to be outside and NOT melt.  The girls did pretty well.  We spent some time at the playground so that was nice, and that was the only time Kelsey stopped eating.

 She had at least one hand in the popcorn at ALL TIMES.

The girls got pretty good at clapping on demand as well - lots of opportunities via pa system. "everybody clap your hands"  And they'd go nuts :)

There were fireworks after the game (even though we lost - and only scored in the last inning) Rylee didn't really want to stay for the fireworks even after explaining they aren't as close/loud as when we light them at home. . . . . she covered her ears just incase.  She's also been insisting on wearing my necklace these days. my girly girl.

Time-Out

Dolly had to sit in the corner (time-out) because she pushed Snow White.

 

"We don't push"

Kelsey's Hand Update

As previously mentioned; since Michael was going to be in Houston for work we tagged along and scheduled Kelsey's follow up with her Dr.

I was excited to get another xray to see how things were progressing.  The last we talked he gave us a glimmer of hope that she may not actually need another surgery. . . . . . . as it turns out that's not the case :( .  Too be honest, I'm not that surprised, but I was holding out hope she wouldn't have to do it again.

He was however very pleased with how she uses her fingers (yay!). He would have been worried if she avoided them all together but that isn't so.  She doesn't use her index finger as much though.  When she is picking up something small (like her pincher grasp) she uses her thumb and middle finger.  Her index finger is smaller, bent in and angled out so that just makes it difficult.  But if she is grabbing something that requires her whole hand she uses all her fingers, and will manipulate objects with her index finger.

The xray was interesting . . . . . you can definitely see that something is not right.  The bones in her other fingers have clear outlines and her middle finger just looked like a crumpled up piece of paper. Her index finger looks like a circle; like it has hardly grown at all. In addition to being smaller to begin with. her right hand just seems to be growing at a slower rate as well - but maybe that's just me.

That surgery would still be a few years away (no rush since she's using them).  He wants the bones to be a bigger so its easier to operate on but before she'd start school. He wants to keep seeing her about every 6 months to keep and eye on things.

His was a little concerned that her skin is very tight on the underside of her fingers and may cause the finger(s) to bend in further with time.  I have a couple little stretching exercises I need to get in a better habit of doing.  Between me forgetting and her fighting me on it we don't follow through as well as we should.

That's the latest on Miss Kelsey.

Houston

We were home from our camping trip about 48hrs before the car was re-packed and we headed to Houston for a couple days.  Michael had meetings in Houston and we tagged along and scheduled a follow-up appointment for Kelsey.

 

We met some friends for dinner (one of Michael's old roommates when we were dating-it was fun to catch up!) and then checked into the hotel in time to hit up the pool with the girls.

 

The next day we sent Michael off to his meetings and ran around town.  We shopped, and hit up a splash pad (discovery green) before the appointment.  The girls both LOVED it! (I wish SA had more of this kind of stuff.) There were a couple school's there so it was pretty crowded at first but we had fun.

Dad met us down town after the appointment (more on that later) and Rylee insisted I take her picture with Dolly while we waited.

It just so happens that the evening we were down town the Houston Children's Museum was free for families in the evening.  I was a tad worried it would be too crazy busy but, all in all, it wasn't too bad.  I think Michael may have had more fun than the girls though ;)  Lots of things to check out, learn and play with.

Kelsey loved the phones. She's a crack-up.

Rylee especially enjoyed the catching fish.

The girls were glad to have Daddy around for the adventure :)

Lost Maples {day 3}

Day 3 we went on another little hike before packing up and heading home.

 

Rylee at the trailhead climbed up this rock and said "look Momma!" she was on her hands/knees so I told her to try standing up.  She was nervous and couldn't quite straighten out her back it was cute.

 I let Kelsey down for a bit of a flat section and captured what would be my favorite picture from the trip. Rylee is a great big sister.  She watches out for her tries to help her when she can.  She loves getting her up from naps and announces "Hello Sweetheart! Good Morning sweet girl!". Don't worry, its not all roses, Rylee thinks she's her second Mother and tattles on her all the time and they're really starting to fight over stuff.  Like I've said from day one - Best friends of best enemies. . . . .probably both.

It was a pretty walk.  We really pushed Rylee to walk the whole way. She did start to whine and ask to be held toward the end but we managed to distract her enough that she did it.  It was just under a mile but she did great.

I've decided camping without a playground isn't the best idea, at least until the kids get older.