A week with the girls...

My nieces, Olivia & Avi, came and stayed a week with us, and we had tons of fun! They were a big help with Mirabelle - changing diapers, feeding her, and entertaining her!

Avi and Mira playing in her room

We tried to go places and see things on most days, but in our "down time," the girls worked diligently on a week-long project. They each designed a boardgame complete with little clay playing pieces! Avi's was "Crazy Jungle" with lots of palm trees, monkeys, and elephants. Olivia's was a Fairy Tale theme - the playing pieces included a princess, prince, princess warrior, and a fairy. The object was to collect all the potions (I made 16 tiny potion bottles out of clay!) and get to the castle first. At the end of the week, we had a couple of Game Nights and played their homemade games along with a couple that we bought (Twilight & ISpy). Ironically, Kenny won Twilight the game although he was the one with absolutely no knowledge of the book or game!!! This thoroughly peeved me and Olivia; we're both big Twilight fans and felt sure one of us would win!!!

My very own sweat shop! Olivia & Avi working long and hard on their game pieces (they liked it!)

At the begining of the week, Kenny's sister Kara was in town for a day or so and joined in all the fun. We went to the mall just to get out of the house before Mira drove me crazy. Her second tooth finally came through Thursday, so the week before was killer!

Wednesday, after watching Mulan, the three girls and I went to check out the R.W. Norton Art Gallery down in Shreveport. We took a stroll (okay, it was more like a hike!) around the grounds, and, after working up a good sweat, we went inside to study the artwork. I was very impressed with the collection. I honestly didn't have very high expectations at all, but was pleasantly surprised. Olivia, especially, enjoyed looking at the works - recognizing many of the artists from her UIL Art studies. I think Avi's favorite part was seeing the new honey bees set up outside a big window in "Fairyland" (the more kid-friendly portion of the gallery).

My girls!

Mira & Mommy

My beautiful Mira

Avi pushes Mira in the stroller while Olivia acts as our tour guide

Trying my hand at the artistic photography

Thursday, after watching Mulan for the second time, we loaded up and went to Sci-Port. Sci-Port was nationally ranked by Parents magazine, so I have been itching to go!! It was great!! We were there for about 4 hours and could have stayed longer! There was so much to see and do - Olivia & Avi both really enjoyed it. Mira even enjoyed some of the displays - her favorite was the demonstration of Bernoulli's Principle in which a beach ball floats up and down in a column of low pressure air. Okay, I don't think she cared about the principle - just the crazy floating ball - but, one day... =)

Olivia and Avi really enjoyed all the opportunities to learn about everything from identifying fingerprint patterns, to planets, creating circuits, using pulley systems, to making their very own batch of slime!! As soon as we were headed for the exit, Avi was asking if we could come back the next day! So, I guess that means it was a success! =)

Olivia & Avi play on the big floor piano - Mira was pretty amused

Avi goes to town on this wheel trying to create horsepower - by the look of her "mane" I'd say she did a fine job! ha ha ha!

Making slime (or "Dragon Snot" as the instructor called it)

Friday morning the girls painted tons of beautiful pictures since their games were finished by this point. Later, we had lunch at Jason's Deli and then took Mira to Gymboree. Avi took part in the class, playing with Mira during the activities while Olivia took advantage of some quiet reading time. After Mira's class, the gym is open for "free play," and Avi had fun running, climbing, balancing, sliding, and jumping with a couple of other kids her age.

Avi gives the balance beam a try

Saturday, Kenny and I took all the girls to the Boardwalk. We started things off right with lunch at The Cheesecake Bistro! Afterwards, we headed to the Funny Bone for a game of bowling - where yours truly won by quite a margin (I'm "REA" on the scoreboard)!!! This was our first time to these lanes, and I was very, very impressed. It's small, comfy (three leather sofas and a coffee table at each lane) and super-clean (no smoking allowed ever)!

We had a lot of laughs as Avi used "Crazy Arms" to encourage her ball down the lane, and Olivia learned to actually throw the ball rather than roll it slowly toward the pins. Olivia eventually decided to try the "Crazy Arms" tactic since she wasn't having much luck.

Avi's crazy arms - "Go Ball, Go!"

Olivia's CRAZY arms - she adds a bounce for extra emphasis!

Anyone up for Baby Bowling? Mira loved it!!! (no worries, I didn't actually let go of the baby!)

Reasie is a superstar bowler!! (three strikes in one game is pretty awesome for me)

After bowling, we headed to the arcade where we played an air hockey tournament (Kenny got the Gold), scored some tickets on Ski Ball, and Olivia and I faced off on Dance Dance Revolution. It's been a while since I DDR'd, but I was still pretty decent! The girls cooperated nicely while cashing in their tickets for cool prizes!

Kenny looks like some slacker dad that snuck off to the arcade with his baby in tow...don't worry she's not being neglected - she's napping, and we were keeping an eye on her! ;)

We finished up the Boardwalk trip with a quick visit to Bass Pro, so Kenny could drool over the boats, and I could change Mira's diaper. We looked at the ugly fish for just a little bit before heading out and heading home. Avi was so worn out, I had to carry her back to the car! I just thought Mira was getting heavy!!

Once back at the house, Olivia managed to convince Avi to watch Singing in the Rain rather than Mulan for a third time while waiting for their parents to arrive.

I think the week was a total success! We had a lot of fun with all the girls in the house despite the increase in noise level and decrease in hot water!! =)