Our streak is over:(

I'm sad to say our family streak of never having to have antibiotics for our children is over. After Emory having several days of fever on and off along with the normal cold issues (gross nose, cough, etc) and Addison having the most horrific cough of any human being ever for a couple of days along with low fever and yucky nose, Trinity and I got them both in to see the doctor yesterday. Addison has an ear infection in her left ear and Emory has an ear infection in both ears and an extremely inflamed throat:(

Yesterday was the first day either one of them really acted like they didn't feel well, so I'm glad we got them in when we did. We started them both on antibiotics last night and Addison seems to be feeling so much better! Emory is really fussy and grumpy today, but her runny nose and yucky cough are almost gone!

As soon as the doctor told me Emory's diagnosis I asked her if her ears or throat hurt and she said no to both. The doc agreed that she must have a pain threshold of a super-human to have all the infection she does and not complain of any pain- especially at her age! So her new name is SuperGirl! She has never cried at shots or complained at injuries...crazy!

Trinity has been doing fine throughout all this junk, but unfortunately this morning she seemed to be taking a downward turn. We will see how she is when I pick her up from school...

Bath time!

Yesterday we (Emory and I) gave Addison her first bath in the kitchen sink. I hate to have to move everything out of reach just to give a quick bath, but it's a great photo op! She had a great time and thought the spraying water thing was amazing, especially when it would turn the faucet on and off!

Emory saw how much fun Addison was having and had to participate in the excitement!

Seriously, is it possible to be any more precious than my little girls?!?!?! I guess you can think yours are, but that is a mother's prerogative!

Trinity's babysitter

Kelly found this picture on her computer of Trinity in Halo's crate from when she was about Addison's age. This time it looks like Trinity is the one babysitting:) How cute is she?

Thank you Kelly!

Our new babysitter

While Addison was working her way around the house this afternoon she managed to finally get INTO Halo's crate. She's been trying to get over the door frame since she's been mobile and today she finally made it. We've decided that next time we need a babysitter for her we will just lock her up in this with Halo, I'm sure she'll be well taken care of :)

I'm sure some of you will remember a picture of Trinity in the same situation, unfortunately I don't have it on my computer to share with you, but hopefully someone will.

Addison was awfully proud of herself!

Looking for signs of fall

Here it is, mid-November and it's in the 80's for the millionth straight day! We are getting desperate for signs of fall to help us remember it's almost Thanksgiving. We've started listening to Christmas music when we're in the car (KVIL started playing it last week) and sometimes when we're at home. We've gone to the stores where they have all their decorations out just to browse and get in the spirit and we've talked about Thanksgiving till we're blue in the face. Other than the fall colds running rampant through our house the only other constant reminder we have is the hail storm of acorns (that is NOT an exaggeration) in our yard and a few trees that are turning. I took a couple of pictures of pretty trees while we were driving this week to prove they really do exist.

This one is in the Toys R Us parking lot

The girls and I have really enjoyed this red tree at Northwest Highway and Buckner. It really stood out with the trees on both sides of it still green.

And the Winner is...

Yesterday was Derby Day for Adventure Princesses, something Greg has been looking forward to since the day they signed up, encouraging Trinity to do the same. Greg was in Indian Guides and Scouts for years, so he and his dad had quite a bit of practice building winning cars for this highly competitive sport. Greg was taking this first Princess competition quite seriously and Trinity was feeding off that. We spent last Sunday afternoon at Greg's Dad's house designing, cutting, sanding and priming the car to prepare for completion during the week. I spent a good part of Wednesday and Thursday painting the car just how Trinity requested, half pink and half purple with diamonds. I felt bad not letting Trinity doing it, but I have a little bit of a hard time letting her loose with a can of spray paint. Thursday we went back to Sachse for setting the axles and putting on the finishing touches. Not long after arriving we discovered a bit of a problem, with all the parts on the car and the pre-drilled holes filled with pellets we were only up to about two and a half ounces and the cars were allowed to be five, this was the beginning of several hours of work for Greg and Hal! They figured out a way to implant weights in the sides of the car, still fill the holes with pellets and have it come in at just five ounces, filled all the holes with wood putty to still have a smooth finish and prepared to be repainted. By the time I got the car repainted and a good, thick coat of clear coat on it you couldn't even tell there were any weights in it! Woohoo!

When we showed up at the race with all the other first year competitors Greg was getting pretty excited about their chances. Several cars were NOT aerodynamic at all, but looked pretty cool. Some of the cars had enough weights to max out, but they were simply glued or screwed on, interfering with their aerodynamics. Then some of the cars were just cars the girls and their dads had fun designing together.

Now it was time for weigh-in. Greg was really nervous! He put the car on the scale and it rolled right off- it was ready to race! Once he got it to stay the number said 5.00 ounces...now that's good work! It's time to check it in and hand it over.

So finally race time is here! This is a highly technical race these days. Each car races four times and the track times their speed in each race. The car with the highest average speed is the winner. Of course at the Y everyone is a winner, so there are several other categories for winning and ever competitor receives a trophy.

Trinity's car won each of her four races, but we weren't sure how she was stacking up against some of the other cars that seemed to be doing the same. The girls were having a great time cheering on each others cars and watching for their own. When it came time to hand out the trophies we started to get a little nervous because we knew Trinity's chances were good. So they're down to the last three awards, 3rd, 2nd and 1st fastest time. I think Greg was starting to sweat a little bit! Then the announcer says, "And the winner of this year's first year Adventure Princess Derby Day race, with a time of 3.1????? seconds is...car #16...Trinity Hinckley!!!" WOO-HOO WE WON! Greg and Trinity were so proud! Trinity's friends and their parents were wonderful supporters and were very proud too! Trinity was a very humble winner, congratulating all of her friends as well and giving each one a unique compliment on their car. What a great time! Here are some pictures of our experience.

Trinity before we left for the race

Greg and Trinity leaving for the race

Cars lined up as their entered, you can see Trinity's is #16

Close up of Trinity's car with it's #16 sticker

Charlotte's Dad, Kelly having to drill holes in the bottom; it weighed in at 5.04 ozs You should have seen it though, it looked like a model car! Three weeks worth of work and 20+ coats of paint!

Jenna, Trinity and Peyton watching the races

You can almost see, Trinity's car is in lane 2.

They didn't know they were about to see true greatness!

Greg and Trinity accepting their first place trophy

Trinity and her Settlement with their Dad's, cars and trophies

Proud winners with their trophy!

Ava turns one!

Last Saturday we had the pleasure of helping Ava Cardwell celebrate her first birthday! We all loaded up in the car and headed up to Frisco to join in the festivities along with several of our friends from college and several kiddos as well. Their house was decorated so precious! Perfect for a little princess! We had such a great time visiting, eating yummy food, watching Ava enjoy her cake and open presents, and playing with our friends! The girls jumped right in to play with all of Ava's toys and all the kids did a great job of sharing!

We gave Ava our routine Little People gift (they have taken over our house and all three of the girls love playing with them, so we figure it's a pretty safe gift) and Addison really wanted to play with them! She didn't understand the plastic cover on the box; she kept trying to get to the Little People on the other side of it...too funny!

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the celebration. Somehow I didn't get any of the kids playing together, guess I was too busy playing and visiting. Oops:)

Ava enjoying her very own smash cake

Ava showing off the mess she made

Addison and Uncle Ben

We hope Ava enjoyed her party! We are so grateful to be included in these special times of our friends! Thanks Cardwells!

Trinity's Mommy day

Last Saturday Trinity and I took the day to spend just the two of us and we had a blast! We started off by going to Starbucks where Trinity indulged in a cup of hot chocolate and I got a coffee...yum! From there we went to the mall and went shopping for winter clothes for her (not that we'll ever need them at this rate!). She loved trying clothes on and looking around at everything she could find. We bought a few outfits for her and ended up getting a Groovy Girl doll for her and of course she had to get one for Emory too; Trinity's is Lollipop Lola and Emory's is Bubblegum Bella...what names! We had a nice lunch together and got to visit a little bit which was a blast! We ended our shopping in Gap where she found some beautiful pink sparkly ballet flats that tie around her ankles which she convinced me to buy for her and she immediately put on! The purchase was worth the complete prideful smile she wears every single time she puts those shoes on!

Of course in order to get Trinity out the door without Emory we had to sell Emory on the idea of Greg having some time with the two little girls. He took them to McDonald's and to the White Rock Stables to see the horses, then to a craft sale in our neighborhood. Rumor has it they had a really good time together!