When I was in high school I was obsessed with the Chicken Soup for The Soul books...you remember them, right? I owned every edition of the Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul series. Anyway, spending the afternoon with your life long bestie...that is some Chicken Soup for the SOUL....for real! Can I get an Amen? ;)

(here is the one and only picture from today taken on Katie's phone)

The kiddos and I spent the day at my n'laws pool along with Mal's buddy Charlie and my life long bestie, Katie and her two boys. Over 3 hours at the pool with six kiddos and not one incident!! woot! That is a good day! :) Cooper (2.5) even just jumped right off the diving board with no hesitation....and while swimming to the ladder just kept saying "diving board again" hahahah! Love that brave little man!!

When I say life long bestie, I really mean life long bestie...We met before our first day of kindergarten...grew up a few houses down from each other and have been life long best friends. Those sisters in Christ I mentioned yesterday.....Katie is that to me. 

An afternoon of laughter and catching up with my oldest and dearest friend. No walls, no judgement, no fluff. Just honest conversation about whatever comes to mind with someone who knows you and still loves you. ;) Ahhh...Chicken Soup for the Soul... I love you Goose! xoxoxo

(disclaimer...Katie does not have a big scar on her head this is a 14 year old picture with a tear in it) haha!

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NIV
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work; If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

There is something about sisterhood that I have never quite been able to put my finger on. There have been so many times in my life that I have wanted to put into words what my sisters mean to me. It is a bond of friendship like nothing else in this world. You know each other, understand each other, love each other.  Sisterhood. I only wish I had the right words. Unconditional love...forgiveness. Each others biggest fans.

Sure there was the time when I drove to Lowe's and bought a key lock for my bedroom door and kept the only key so my sister couldn't take anything...and maybe...just maybe I saw her at school and she "honored" my request to be nothing but house mates by yelling across the way..."HEY DON'T YOU LIVE DOWN THE HALL FROM ME?" No worries, that was short lived and I would let her borrow anything she wanted to out of my home now ;)

One thing I can tell you for sure about sisterhood...when your sister has a baby... you love that baby SO much he could be your own. The love I have for my nephew Leo I have talked about so often...and now my heart just grew ten sizes with the love I have for my brand new nephew, Oscar. He. Is. PERFECT! My sister Amy is such an amazing mom. I am so proud of her and love her boys more than words could every say. 

I thank God for my sisters every day. I am twice blessed with sisters. They know me...all of me...flaws and all and they still love me. Unconditional love...sisterhood.

My prayer for my children (daughters, son, and nephews) is that they will find the same sisterhoods, brotherhoods, and cousinhood ;) that my sisters and I have...I can not think of a better gift that I could give them. I think back on my childhood years and I smile at the memories of my sisters...car trips, summer vacations, Thanksgiving day, Christmas morning, our infamous plays. My sisters, they make my heart so happy!

On the subject of making my heart happy...these brothers make my heart happy! Oh my goodness...how cute are they? Brotherhood...I can't wait to see how this brotherhood develops. This truly is a picture of the beginning of a beautiful friendship...

Welcome to our wild and crazy family precious Oscar! We are obsessed with each other which allows for a lot of good and a little bit of bad...but you are going to love it! You are so blessed to have one of my fabulous sisters as your mommy and my other fabulous sister as your auntie. You are blessed with a Mimi and Papi that are going to make you laugh and love you to the moon. We love you so much and your Auntie Sarah will always be here for you. Just like your mommy has always been there for me.

Sisterhood...I will never find the right words. But I love you sweet sisters! You are both fabulous! xoxoxoxoxo

And just as a side note...I know that not everyone is blessed with a sister relationship like ours. My prayer for each of you is that you have a "sisterhood" somewhere in your life. Believe me girl, I have some sisters in Christ that are a part of my sister love!! 

Psalm 118:24 - "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Through the years I have often mentioned our dear friends the Bley's :) Mallory and Peyton became besties on the first day of 3 year old preschool and have been two peas in a pod ever since! :) It was a great match for the rest of the family because Whit and Lex are close in age and great buddies and Erin and Geoff are dear friends to Scott and I.  The girls were heartbroken to be separated when we moved away from San Antonio...but every time we get to visit they pick up like they were together yesterday! They didn't skip a beat diving in to play barbies, pet shops, groovy girls, art...all their favorites!!  One very important life lesson I learned while living in Texas for 2 years was that your saving grace living without family nearby is good friends. We didn't just find good friends in the Bley's we found great friends!! WE LOVE Y'ALL!!!!

Two weeks in a hotel with 3 kiddos makes for some very interesting moments!! :) I had to snap a few pics of this very creative afternoon of making each other over with mommy's make up! My favorite is Whitney's reaction to her big reveal!! ahahahah!!! :)

So as we were exploring Waco we found this little Kiddie Land run by the Lion's Club....we decided it would be fun to check it out. It was cute and pretty hilarious. It hasn't been updated since it opened in the 50's and I mean not. at. all...there are several broken rides...an abandon pool...a fallen down park...and only 3 workers. One of the rides was running but no longer went up and down. The kids had a blast and Scott and I had a good chuckle ;) It really was sweet...but not sure I would head over there after dark...just saying ;)

So I decided that Whitney needed her very own post for this room at the museum :) It was all different kinds of tables with air blowing out...you used the balls (like the kind from a ball pit) to see how the air effected them...Whit was SO excited!! She could not get enough of them!! She was up on her tippy toes doing her "happy dance" this girls steals my heart ALL the time!!!! Such a fun day! I love you Whit Grace!! xoxox

Not only does Baylor University have a gorgeous campus...but they have the BEST children's museum!! And we know Children's museums even better than we know zoo's ;) We had a BLAST!! The kiddos and I were there for over 3 hours and could have easily stayed longer!! SO MUCH FUN!

Whitney realized she could see herself on the tv when doing the Kids News...the girls went crazy!! She was putting on quite the performance!! She makes my heart SO happy!!! :)

Bentley and Mal loved the Native American room...Mal of course put on the costume and got busy grinding some corn...in the meantime B was jamming out on the drums with the HUGE drums stick...and in case you were wondering...the stick quickly became a dangerous weapon ;) hahah!