Contracts

We decided to be super awful parents and make our girls sign an Electronics Contract.  Basically, we sat down together and laid out some terms for use of screens .. .. .. cuz frankly I was becoming disheartened at the amount of time that was being wasted on them {by all of us}. And because we are just mean like that:)  Our goal {and by "our" I really mean "my"} is to be more deliberate and accountable about when and what we are using them for. I'm not naive about electronics ....I mean they are here to stay and they can be wonderful tools. I just was beginning to notice that we were becoming reliant on them for entertainment and I didn't like it. Mark thought it would be a good idea if the girls each wrote their own contract (same terms) rather than us just giving them a copy to sign. I think he was right. It gives them a feeling of ownership and they were able to give input as we went along. The contract is only valid through the first of April and then we will reevaluate and revise if needed. I had to laugh at the difference in contracts. Bailee just could not believe that we were making her sign a contract. I mean seriously she is 15! We reminded her that signing a contract is actually a very grown up thing to do and that she will sign many in her adult life. I love how she added "any violations you will be SEVERELY punished!!" .. .. .. because we are all about severe punishment around here;)

Kars signed her name as tiny as she possibly could at the bottom so as to not take too much ownership of it. I guess it comes in handy when you can plead ignorance.

And Emmrey who loves any sort of system, just wanted to make sure she could decorate her "Divice" {device} contract with colorful art.

 So far it has been pretty great. It is a work in progress, but it has made us all give a little more thought to how we are using our time:)

All You Need Is Love

Valentine's at our house is really more about the girls. Mark is a bit of a cynic when it comes to this holiday. Don't get me wrong he is very loving and can even be downright romantic when he wants to be.  He just doesn't care for the whole "commercialized feeling obligated to go all out on this one day" nonsense. Anywhooo.... Emmrey and I put together some silly straws for her class. I was surprised she didn't end up with a few more. I guess other moms weren't scouring Pinterest for ideas like I was.

 Karsyn surprised me when she asked to put together a little something for a few friends.....

 Since Valentine's was on Saturday, we had an entire day together to feel the love. While Mark made pancakes, I heart attacked the girls rooms {and Mark's mirror}

 

 The girls had to put together a message with words on different hearts.

 

 Those cute girls heart attacked us too. They had spent their sister night while Mark and I were on our date Friday making these hearts and a card...sweet!

 

 Later that afternoon we were doorbell ditched and found this at our front door.  There was even an un-frosted sugar cookie for Kars since that girl is not a frosting lover at all!

A "secret valentine" sent these cards with a specially designed cachet and postmark from the city of Loveland

 

We had our traditional candlelight dinner. ...pizza with pepperoni hearts, hearts of Romaine salad, strawberry hearts and of course love potion.

 The girls got their photo books and spent a good part of the night looking through them, reminiscing and laughing at each other.....so glad I started doing this.

Such a nice day together. I sure do LOVE this guy even if he doesn't like to celebrate Valentine's!

  

<3<3<3<3<3

Calling all Cowgirls

The first week in February, Emmrey had her music performance. At this school, they do the program with the entire school and make it one big production rather than broken down by grades like we have been used to. This year the theme was western. The kids were either cowboys/cowgirls or barn animals depending on their grade. They held it at a church in Fort Collins, because unfortunately they don't have anything here in Wellington that would accomodate that many people. This church was massive. It was one of those Megachurches and it was pretty impressive. ....3-4 different auditoriums, kids center, bookstore and cafe.  We were asked to not take photos during the show which was a bummer, but with this set up, it would have been difficult to get very close to the stage anyway. They did have both big screens going which gave us a close up view of our girl.

Not only was the church HUGE but there were kids everywhere. Luckily they had it all planned out really well so nobody got lost. Emmrey and one of her classmates {Leah} waiting in their spot.

 The kids did a superb job with their concert and I loved watching Emm singing along to all the tunes she'd been practicing.

We were all excited to find our little cowgirl afterward....and coincidentally, most of the fam had their plaid on;)

 We finished off the night with some friends at Culver's for frozen custard ...yee-haw!

Reunion

The end of last month we were happily surprised to hear that some old friends were going to be in our neck of the woods. Our good friends Joey and Kaitlyn Vap were coming out from Virginia for some campus visits to CSU and UW.  They were only going to be in town for one day and I am so glad the stars aligned so we could make this meeting happen:) We both left Laramie in 2003 after finishing school. We went to Cody and they went to several different military bases. We saw them once in Florida, we met once in Denver, and they came to visit us in Cody. Other than that, we have not seen them in person (just Christmas cards and social media) for nearly 10 years. Joey is a great friend. Although we have not kept in touch as much as we both intended, we just picked up where we left off and things just feel so comfortable with her.

 While Bailee and Kaitlyn were inseparable as preschoolers, it was a little less natural for them. I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise since a best buddy relationship with someone at 4 or 5 doesn't necessarily carry over when you haven't talked in 10 years. However, it was so fun to see how similar they are ...still. They have both developed into young women that have very common goals and priorities. Mark was out of town so it was just me and the girls...which was perfect since it was just Joey and Kaitlyn that made the trip.

 I had to bring along some old photos of the kids to reminisce. These two girls were absolutely adorable together and spent nearly everyday together in our little student housing complex. They had lots of sleepovers {only because we lived just across the playground from each other}

 They were the queens of Tea Parties and I think we had at least one a day. 

 They just loved spending time together and were the cutest little friends.

 Their son Jayden, was a year older than Karsyn and they became little lounge buddies. The Vap's had these little chairs at their apartment that Kars fell in love with. She often caused trouble by wanting to sit in Jayden's and refused to get out. He also had lots of cool animals that she enjoyed playing with. But mostly they were content to just sit there in the chairs together:)

So lucky to have this lovely family as friends and so happy we got to see them for a bit and catch up. It's hard to believe that the reason for the reunion was for COLLEGE...no way that is possible! I hope we have more chances to see one another in the future.