Fourth of July

I could not for the life of me find the Fourth of July decorations this year! I know we were in our new house last summer by then and I swear that I had them up. I had convinced myself that they were somewhere in the house, and not in the attic, because I had already used them. I looked everywhere. Twice. And could not find them. I did eventually find the Fourth of July decorations, but it was after we had already celebrated. Guess where?

The attic.

I'm pretty much positive that I may have this problem next year, too. I have these big plans to put different holiday-themed decor in coordinating boxes in one of the cabinets downstairs that is empty. But until I get those boxes, the decor could be anywhere! Wish me luck...

We had our usual celebrations for Independence Day. This year, the holiday fell in the middle of the week so it didn't seem to linger or anything. We always watch fireworks on the third in our hometown, a tradition that has continued since both Justin and I were kids ourselves, and one that has really evolved as the town grew. There are activities for the kids to do, though we usually just walk around and look at things. We did get some snow cones as it was pretty hot {always is}! By the time we eat and walk the crowds, the sun begins to set and so we head back to our spot to wait for the fireworks.

"Rainbow" Snow Cones

Janie has never been a fan of fireworks. She doesn't like how loud they are, which is ironic because she is by far the loudest thing that lives in our house. We chose an unfortunate spot to sit right next to a loud speaker, but the view was great and Janie just covered her ears the whole time. The fireworks were awesome and well-timed with the music played. The girls were really well behaved and had a fun time with family & friends!

Too loud!

Nora with Pops

The next day, for the actual holiday, we had family over to the house for a grilled meal and swimming. Everyone loved relaxing and celebrating together. It was a great couple of days!

Bomb pops of course!

We hope everyone had a great day celebrating their freedom! I love watching the fireworks and thinking about what it must have been like to hear and see that symbol of victory & independence way back when we didn't get to decide how our country was run and whom we trusted with its leadership. I am grateful for that opportunity & for our great country! Happy Fourth of July!

Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend is such a nice little preview for what summer will bring! This year we had a four day weekend since the school district backed up a bad weather day to the front side of it. We didn't use it, hence four days off! The girls went to school as usual on Friday so that I could have a little much-needed mommy time. When Memorial Day rolled around, we were ready to enjoy the pool!

This is about how well pictures go these days!

The girls wanted to take a try at their bikes, which went surprisingly better than I thought it would. Nora is getting better at riding with her training wheels {it has been quite the struggle}. Her coordination must be improving because we definitely have not been practicing enough for her to get that much better. Janie could still use some practice, even at the tricycle!!

Nora riding her bike.

Janie riding her tricycle... and getting frustrated!

We ended up going over to Michael's parents house to swim & have a nice dinner. This was our first experience in the pool since taking swim lessons and I learned a lot about what the kids are more comfortable with while in the water. Overall, it was a fun afternoon spent with family!

Wearing our red, white, and blue... of course!

Playing around in the pool!

Hanging out with Mimi!

We remember on this day and are thankful for all the men and women who have given their lives to protect our freedoms. It is not taken for granted and it does not go forgotten. God Bless America!

Mothers Day

Happy Mother's Day out there to all the women who take on the role of mom in any way!

The weekend started off with a "Muffins for Mom" breakfast at the girls' daycare. I went and hastily ate a little breakfast with the girls before having to head off to work.

We were able to find a decent brunch reservation a few weeks prior to Mother's Day so we enjoyed eating out with my parents and Krista & Michael on the actual holiday.

And of course we had our traditional shoe shopping for mommy after nap time!

After shopping we decided to go out to dinner at Gloria's, which the girls loved due to the light fixture that changed colors. Afterwards, the girls had had about as much as they could handle for one day and we headed home!

It was a sweet day filled with lots of family time.

Sweet gift from Nora.

Happy Easter

We had a very Happy Easter weekend with family.

It started out with service on Good Friday. We went to church again on Easter morning and then came home to hunt the eggs the Easter bunny left for us.

When Easter morning came, it was all we could do just to get up and get ready on time to be at church in the morning, so the Easter bunny's treats would have to wait until later. The bunny was really lucky that one little girl didn't spy him hiding eggs in the front yard at dawn. We went to the service with my parents and then did a craft and ate breakfast as a family.

Sweet girls on Easter morning.

We got home and went right to hunting eggs. Unfortunately, our egg hunt at home took a turn for the worse when the girls discovered that some ants had gotten to the contents of their eggs before they did. {Cue high pitched screams coming from our front yard.} No one got bit or anything - they were not fire ants - but it was just as devastating, apparently. In the end, everyone got more treats than they needed and everyone walked away happy.

Egg hunting, before the horrific discovery of ANTS!

Someone wouldn't go in the grass after the ants had been discovered...

Ford helped!

We went to my parents in the evening for another egg hunt and Easter dinner. No ants this time around! We got to visit with Michael's parents and Grandma came as well. It was so nice to be able to visit and celebrate with almost all of our family at once.

With Auntie K and Michael

Found one! 

Everyone had a fun Easter Sunday!

Bunnies & Baskets

I love holidays. Like, really love them. I create my own hashtags for our family for each holiday. I buy shirts, dresses, and accessories for every season. {I've gotten better about not overbuying for holidays over the years, but it still happens!} So just like any holiday, when Easter begins to approach, I get really excited! With Easter though, the various community events that happen typically are all going on around the same day, and about the same times. So you end up picking just one - maybe two, if you're lucky - to go to.

This year, I chose to go to Southlake's Easter in the Park event. I hadn't been to Southlake's before and I have to say that I thought it was really fun! I loved that everything was free - the pictures with the bunny, the special treats {Rita's - YUM!}, the bounce houses, the balloon animals, the egg hunt, etc. I assume the petting zoo was free, too but we didn't attempt it because the line was long. Everything else with a line the kids did great waiting their turn. The park was big and beautiful and there was even a playground that the girls liked playing at once we were finished with the fun.

The egg hunt itself was a little rough because it took all of about fifteen seconds for it to be over. And about half a second after that you could hear a chorus of cries coming from the field of all the toddlers that didn't get just what they had wanted out of the hunt. My girls have never been quick egg hunters and although this time was no exception, they did at least try to pick up eggs quickly as opposed to opening and examining every last egg's contents. After we talked Nora off the edge once she realized she didn't get the "golden egg" {there was only one in the whole stinkin' hunt} everything was good again.

The girls also had egg hunts at their school. This goes so much more smoothly since there are a lot less kids than a public event. They met the Easter bunny and enjoyed their yummy treats!

I had fun perusing through the Easter candy aisles at Target to help get the girls' baskets ready. I got lots of comments about how big their baskets are. I guess they're pretty big, but they are a lot of fun to fill! I need to figure out a good way to get the bottom filled so that the stuff doesn't fall to the bottom, but otherwise the girls love looking through them on Easter morning!

Bubble gum eggs! Should have gotten these for my sister. 

Bring back the 90's!

Can y'all believe they SELL these?? The only person I know who would eat these are my dad.

Baskets ready for the bunny!

This year, my girls got in their baskets {they're 3 & 4}:

Coloring book

Sticker booklet

Spring-themed book {Usborne!}

Glitter watercolor paints

Bubbles

Small stuffed bunny

Bunny cookie

Bathing suit

New rain boots {happened to be bunnies on them!}

Duck bath toy

Confetti popcorn

Carrot shaped candy

Marshmallow Egg

Peanut butter eggs

A couple Target Dollar Spot bunny toys inside their 2 large eggs

We're looking forward to more Easter fun next weekend!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day!

We hope everyone had a great day filled with lots of love!

With love,
The Peiperts

Can you guess which child threw a fit right before this photo session??

And if you're wondering what most look like when you try to take pictures of your toddlers...