I Scream, You Scream

WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM!!

One day earlier this summer, I promised to take Ayla and Brennan to the Clay Center to play and watch a movie. They have a free day every year on their Anniversary and I planned to take the kids on that day. I kept telling Ayla about it (mistake) and she was so excited to go. We have been there several times and she remembers the Clay Center quite well.For those of you who don't know, the Clay Center is a 240,000 square foot Center for the Arts & Sciences. The Center houses the performing arts, visual arts and the sciences. They have a huge play area for the children with a ball pit, a bridge and tunnels to crawl through.



So it turns out that I got the dates mixed up and when we got there we discovered that in fact it WAS NOT the free day. We decided to leave and come back on the actual free day. Ayla had a major meltdown. She was screaming and crying and nothing I said made her happy.

Until.....





I had the bright idea to go get an ice cream.





Ayla thought this was a great idea and the tears immediately stopped !





You see our kids have never had an ice cream cone before, just bites here and there...





It definitely made up for the Clay Center fiasco, Don't you think?

(*FYI-this post was from last summer, It was still in draft, so I thought I would finish it! Took me long enough hu?)

THANKSGIVING

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year and it was wonderful. Of course we missed our family that could not be there, but overall we had a great day. Johns sister, husband and three nieces were able to come in from Michigan and join us. They have just spent the last eight years of their life as missionaries in Albania so it was great to see them and spend some time with them. They are awesome people, Johns niece's are sooo smart, they speak English and Albanian. Maggie the oldest is eight and she plays the violin amazingly!! It was a fun filled day of singing, praying, playing, dancing , having fun and being thankful for all of the blessings in our life!!!

......... here is Brennan just hanging out................




and Kaleb finally stepped in front of the camera.......

the boys playing the Wii, and of course Ayla had to join in on the fun!!

The girls playing............

Maggie entertaining us with her violin!!

and Ayla and Memaw dancing made for a very fun day!!

THE CLAY CENTER

Instead of shopping the day after Thanksgiving, I decided to take Ayla to the Clay Center to play. They were having Christmas activities all day long with lots of Christmas Trees and Trains to look at so I thought It would be a great opportunity to get her out of the house and have fun. This was the first time going since she has started feeling better and she had a great time. She was running, going down the slide and jumping into the ball pit with no problems at all. This is the first time that I actually had to keep up with her!! Santa Clause also made an appearance but we just waved and kept our distance. She was not to sure about him and I saw no reason to traumatize her and make her sit on his lap. Overall, it was a very fun day of play!!!!!!! She is still doing really well, we have a Dr's appointment this Friday so I will keep everyone posted!! For the time being, we are enjoying watching our little girl come out of her shell for the first time since I can remember. Our prayers are being answered and we are so thankful!!