BUT, if you have about 15 minutes to kill (I know that can be hard to come by) here are some hilarious videos of Clara giving a recap of Sleeping Beauty and Little Mermaid, and Emma "reading" Down By the Barn (which is easily her current favorite, followed by.... yes, Jingle Bells. Classic April in Texas reading hehe).
Sleeping Beauty Recap by Clara:
Little Mermaid was too long for one video so it's in two parts. Sorry if they overlap or I ended up skipping some:
I have really enjoyed watching her enjoy ballet and gymnastics and swim as we've cycled through each of those activities. Swim is still sticking around because I think it's important, but now that Clara is old enough to play soccer or t-ball I am so excited! (And she is too :)
I was so tempted to coach for a minute, but after the 60 seconds were up I realized that I have NO room to add anything else on my personal plate, so maybe next year after I've seen what all it involves.
Before the season starts we figured we'd let Clara get some throwing, catching and batting practice so the first practice and game were miserable for her and she'd have a positive experience. We took a family field trip to Academy yesterday and let Clara pick out her own glove and bat - are you surprised she picked pink? ;) - and found her the baseball pants they are supposed to wear.
Clara couldn't wait to try on her special baseball pants (she's an outfit girl after all), and thank goodness I had the foresight to get Emmy a pair too (in the smallest size available) because she immediately wanted to participate in the fun. We also got her a teeny glove because I know she's going to be running around the backyard picking up the balls and will love it too.
Whenever we find out what color uniform Clara's team has, I'll go to Hobby Lobby and get Emma a shirt that color and make her a "Little Sister Uniform". They'll love it.
Each other's biggest fans
I just love this hilarious picture of Emma - her eyes! hehe
perfect fan material
two more years little one :)
Clara's games will be held on Saturdays - we'll keep you posted with times and places. Feel free to come catch a game with us! I can almost guarantee that it'll be entertaining!
This past Sunday, on our way home from the ranch, we made a pit stop in downtown Houston at the zoo to celebrate Ruth's 4th birthday!
The girls were extremely excited - and frankly, so was I, because both of the girls managed to take a good hour long nap in the car before we got there. (Which usually means we will have a fun outing!)
Stylish and ready
The parking around the zoo is terrible!! But it meant that Clara & Ruth had a good amount of time to play and for Ruth to open her present before we went in.
Girlish excitement
Then, while BreAnna got everything ready with tickets and a wagon, Clara and Emma explored this cool rhino statue coming out of the building:
what does a Rhino say?
Natural Encounters - a turtle!
Emma was stoked about this little tunnel she found that let her crawl through all of the piranhas.
Eventually Clara joined her too - as well as the other kiddos.
I had to drag Emma away from the piranhas as she was still waving, calling "bye bye" and blowing kisses. Apparently little girlfriend likes her fish to have some attitude.
more fish! pretty fish.
The Elephants were exciting for everyone - but especially for Emma! She loved them!
She doesn't look happy here, but it was mostly because I was asking her to come with me and away from the elephants, haha.
A cougar
All 6 of the party guests
Can you *spot* the sleeping Leopard?
Ducks!
We took a break by the duck pond to celebrate Miss Ruth with snacks and juice and cookies.
The Olaf cookie may have gotten the best of CB :)
Time for some giraffes!
how does she fit in there!?
Two buddies and a herd of giraffes:
I promise Emma Lou was having fun. I have no idea how I didn't manage to catch her smiles on my pictures.
Rhinos!!
The rhinos were fighting but every time I turned on the camera they stopped!
Sweet BreAnna & Emma Lou
Time for some apes & gorillas! so cool!
"Hello Clara" - crazy close encounter!
there's Ruthie too
This was Clara's favorite part of the day when I asked her later
Pumba!
Emma was not such a big fan of the ledges we saw all day, but she still wanted to see the animals so she'd sllooowwwlllly scoot herself closer.
"Yook!"
Then we got to play some drums!
And "try on" some silly masks:
And play chase with our friends:
By then our kids were running out of steam - 3.5 hours at the zoo is a lot of work!
On our way out the elephants were mating! Clara was like "be nice elephant!!" and I just had to laugh.
One last picture of all of the girls together:
Thank you for inviting us Ruth! We had so much fun! Happy Birthday!
