Grandma Martinson Visits

We are so lucky to have Grandma Martinson come out to visit us!  It was so fun to have her around.  I feel so blessed to have this amazing women in my life.  She has been an amazing role model, she is a wonderful mom, and an excellent grandma who spoils my kids with love and attention.  We miss you Grandma, but we are so grateful for the memories we make when you visit. 

We took Grandma to an adorable little restuarant called The Tea Room.  It was like having our own little tea party.

This is them sitting on a bench outside.

Grandma spoiled the girls and got them a special tea pot and Grandma threw another tea party because one special girl couldn't make it because she is in school. 

The girls get so excited about dates and they got to each have a special date with Grandma.  Of course Grandma bought them a special gift.

Grandma took Claire to the store and bought her princess panties and a sweet treat.

Special date with Grandma was getting an ice cream and getting a toy.

I don't have a picture with Grandma and Ashlyn's date.  Grandma went to Ashlyn's school and had a date with her during lunch.  Then she got another date to get ice cream and got a watch. My girls are so spoiled to have a thoughtful Grandma.

We went to a park to play outside before we went to Ashlyn's school for Family Movie Night where they played Trolls.  We had a lot of fun! 

Love when Daddy comes home for lunch!  Des is just turning into a little girl.  It is so adorable.

We took a day trip to Waco to see the Magnolia Market at the Silos.  It was so fun! I love the family oriented environment.  It had music, food trucks, the decor store, bakery, and the outside had games to play.  It was fun to be with my mom and share our love for decor! 

They had a huge section that is turf and these bean bags where around the perimeters.  It looks so uncomfortable and I saw all these adults lounging in them---then I tried it and they are pretty comfortable.  

We ate lunch on the turf and they had stuff to play with all around in the field like kickballs, swings, bean bag toss, footballs...

I had so much fun playing with my kids.  It was such a fun environment to just be together as a family and play around. 

I didn't want to brave it out and go inside the store with my double storller and 4 kiddos so my mom and I took turns to go inside.  We were playing on the swing set, but there were only so many so we lucked out finding this swing.  We could have sat on it forever.  Our family loves porch swings!

The kids loved to explore and this tent with mushrooms was one of their favorite spots. It is fun to see their imaginations play.

We have been inspired to make our own fairy house.  Aren't they so cute?

We went to their Bakery and they have to most delicious cupcakes!  

I am thankful for my mom!  She is always fun visit.  It is fun to catch up with one of my best friends, help me with the kids (taking them on dates, doing their hair, putting them to bed, and she never stopped to rest.  She is very thoughtful, kind, and I just love her so much!  Thank you for coming to visit MOM!  I love you! 

Love watching my kids in nature.

This was my favorite part... playing on the turf with my kiddos!

Videos are in the other post.... I will post them agian here

 Grandma gave Brinley an early birthday present!  She was so so excited and is always on it!!!!

Grandma was so sweet and did an Easter Egg Hunt with the girls.  They were so excited!  Grandma is an expert egg hider. 

Thank you Grandma for the Easter present of getting us all new swimming suits!  

They will definitely be used all the time....especially with summer coming soon.

Videos

Waco Day Trip (The Silos from Fixer Upper) with Grandma Martinson

I am just starting to teach Brinley how to read.  She is enjoying it and being big like her big sister Ashlyn because she can read.

I can't believe how well Ashlyn is reading.  She has learned so much being in school and practicing at home.  This girl loves to read.

For the Easter week, we did some fun activities to celebrate the life of Christ and this was Mad Monday.  It was too cute not to share.

Summer's coming!

Ashlyn absolutely loves learning! She loves school, reading, writing, drawing, etc. She wrote this book on a Saturday morning. It was about the four different seasons and what happens during each of them. 

Texas Ants! We've had several run-ins with fire ants since moving here. They get this huge ant pile and then I spray, then they pop up in a new spot a few days later.

Here I am pointing to the previous pile. A couple days after spraying, they moved to where my shadow is pointing, a few feet to the left. I bought some new stuff and spreaded it over the lawn yesterday so we'll see if that works better. 

The girls love riding bikes around the back patio while we are all out as a family. 

Ashlyn loves this little "secret spot" in the back yard. 

Swimming in our new suits from Grandma Martinson!

Brinley turned 4! She was so excited and said about 100 prayers before her birthday, thanking Heavenly Father that it could be her birthday. 

Brinley had a mermaid themed birthday. She got several mermaid birthday presents. We went swimming twice, and watched Little Mermaid 2.

This was her mermaid doll that swims in the water!

There is a Mexican restaurant with separate little doors for kids. Brinley chose to go here for her birthday. 

New bedsheets from Grandma Martinson!

We went to eat lunch with Ashlyn at her school on Friday this week. The girls were so excited to see each other.

During a few of my lunch breaks, I've been taking Brinley over to the church parking lot to practice riding her bike. It has been a very discouraging project to her. I think she imagined she would pick it up very quickly. And me being the stubborn dad I am, refused to use training wheels. They are just a deterrent in learning to ride a bike. She has done great though!

Although my practice has a great location, there are many people that have no idea there is a dental practice there. I decided to spend some money on a highly visible sign that will get some attention.

It's only been a few days but it's been fun to mess around creating different ads. The screen doesn't show up very well in this video but it'll give you an idea.

Gotta love watching these girls interact.

The curls! Jenny and I joke about straightening her hair to see what she'd look like. The girls got curls.

The pool is still one of our favorite family activities. 

I've been looking at pool toys for a while. I've seen one similair to this at the pool store but it was $60. Jenny and I found this one at Sam's club for $25 on our date night this week and decided to buy it. The girls had a ball on it. And just so you know, this is correctly termed a pegacorn (mix between unicorn and pegasus). 

Brinley could spend all day in the pool. Yesterday I thought I'd let her stay out as long as she wanted and see how long she could go. The chlorine in her eyes is what did her in I think. (Thanks Grandma Martinson for the rings!)

When Grandma Martinson was here, she did all the girls hair just about every day. It gave Jenny motivation to spend more time doing the girls' hair each day. 

Jenny and I watched a documentary on Netflix called, "The Minimalists".

These are a couple guys that were super involved in working up the corporate ladder and then woke up and decided to simplify their lives and allow themselves to live a more free lifestyle and work less. There are a lot of different points to it but a big theme in it is to be happy with less stuff in your life. Think about the things you own and if they truly bring value to your life or not. There was a great quote by Jimmy Carter in it. I was very touched by it, and impressed that a president would say something like this, especially when the economy is dependent on people spending money.

Anyway, so one of the challenges I took on was to simplify my closet. If you're interested you can watch the before and after videos below.

Hope everyone is doing well. Love yall!