Baylor Homecoming

Daddy went hunting this weekend and we headed to Waco for Baylor Homecoming. The girls LOVED the parade Saturday morning and had so much fun tailgating before the football game...so much fun, we didn't make it into the game.

Hannah thought that she was the coolest thing on earth when she got to walk over to the Kappa room with cousin Linda and watch her do her pledge songs!

Is this the cutest baby you've seen or what? He's the sweetest little thing, too!

She LOVES Baby Henry!!!

This picture kills me it is so sweet! They were having the cutest conversations as they walked!

Sic 'em Bears!

I mean, he would not take those glasses off!!!

Sweet sisters!!

Trick-or-Treat

We had such a fun Halloween!! Both of the girls got to wear their costumes to school and at the end of the day I went and helped with Hannah's Halloween party. We had a major sugar overload, came home and tried to calm down a little bit before Daddy came home and we headed out for some more sugar!!

Both girls were Tinkerbell this year and they were very excited when it got dark outside and their tutus lit up! After a long day at school with all of their gear on, they opted to not wear their tights or tinkerbell shoes out to trick-or-treat in, so, these 2 Tinkerbells went out bare legged with crocs on!

My Baby Turns 3!!!

I'm a little late, but I couldn't not post about my sweet little baby's 3rd birthday! Alice Anne turned 3 years old on August 4. I have had a really, really hard time coming to the realization that my little baby is 3 years old! She reminds me of it day after day, and loves telling me that she's my "big girl baby!" She has really grown up this past year and she has a personality of her own! She knows what she wants, and she wants it her way, and she isn't going to give up until she gets it. She is my snuggler, my hugger, and my kisser! If I'm ever having a bad day, all I have to do it ask Alice Anne to give me a hug, and my day is always better. Ask anyone that she is close to, and they will comment on Alice Anne's hugs...they will light up any one's day because they are so genuine!

She is definitely my "hard" child! If I have any grey hairs, she's given me 99.9% of them. She will get in a funk every few weeks, and every time it hits, I know that I'm in for a long few days. Then out of nowhere, she'll turn it around, and her sweet little self returns. I try not to worry about it much, because all of her teachers at school, church and ballet have nothing but sweet, sweet, words to say about her, and to a mommy, how they act when I'm not around, is what matters the most! Brett and I have gotten some good laughs when he will tell the girls that if they are extra sweet, he'll bring them some candy when he comes home from work. If Alice Anne is in one of her moods, she'll look at Brett as serious as can be and say in her deep little voice, "I don't want your candy!!"

She is 100% opposite from Hannah, and I love that they both have their own personality. She ADORES her big sister, and does nothing more than try to be Exactly. Like. Her!!! At this point in her life, she's not my studious one. She would rather be running, or wrestling, or playing pretend with her baby dolls, than coloring or doing quiet learning activities. This is all new to me, since Hannah would prefer to sit at the table and learn all day long! If I'll have an athlete out of the 2, I think she'll be my little athlete, although she is very cautious! She has no desire to ride her tricycle, even though Brett and I have tried and tried, and she is perfectly content sitting on the steps at the swimming pool with her swim ring on. Again, she does everything on HER time!

My favorite thing to do with Alice Anne is our little bedtime routine. Every night after we sing songs and say her prayers, she gives me a big kiss, followed by eskimo kisses, butterfly kisses, "head kisses" (where we bonk heads and she is far from gentle--so much so, I've had a bruise on my forehead before), and then she gives me the biggest hug and always says, "tighter, mommy!!" That sweet little phrase will never get old!!

She is the best little eater!! She LOVES most any vegetable and fruit, and she will eat sushi and sashimi like it's going out of style! She loves school, church and ballet! She is the funniest little 3 year old you'll ever meet and she makes us laugh all the time!! For the longest time, she was referred to as "Bally," and we still call her that sometimes, but every time we do, she says very firm and loud, "My name is NOT Bally...I Alice Anne!" She has completely given up her naps, which is the main reason my blog is so far behind!! She has the sweetest little soul and she makes our family brighter day after day! We love you more than you'll ever know Alice Anne!!

I have no idea how she knew what they were, but she requested "funfetti cupcakes" at the grocery store, to have for her birthday breakfast. I LOVE this little smile!

She insisted on a Chuck E. Cheese party!!

She LOVES pizza...even at Chuck E. Cheese!

Sweet Sisters checking out the necklace Chuckie gave her

Spring Break 2011

To say we've been on the go lately, would be an understatement. I feel like we haven't had a breather in weeks. We've been packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking and then packing again, but we've really had a lot of fun! We had a great Spring Break week. The first part of the week, we spent a lot of time working on our garden. This year, we planted every herb possible, plus blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, jalapenos (hot and mild), green peppers, banana peppers, zucchini, okra, and 3 tomato plants. We already have a bunch of tomatoes and the girls can't wait until they're ready to eat! Hannah and Alice Anne got to spend 10 days in Waco. The first few days, they were at Granny's house with Gigi, and then they went over to Jammy and Papa's for several days. While they were in Waco, Brett and I headed to Bora Bora! It was AMAZING, to say the least! It was absolutely gorgeous and the most relaxing vacation we've been on in a LONG time! We really had the best time!

The girls have been a handful lately. Alice Anne pretty much tests her limits with Brett and me every day. This is all new to us, because Hannah just never really went through that phase. I'm having to get really creative in finding ways to motivate her to obey us and to be nice to her sister! Hannah loves to be the bossy big sister, so that's another daily battle. I'm starting to think that Hannah might have gotten some of her daddy's negotiating skills, which could be a great thing, but I'm not liking them so much right now. If I answer one of her questions the way she didn't want it answered, or if I ask her to do something that she doesn't want to do, she tests those negotiating skills out...and I'm not a big fan! We're working on this one, too.

Alice Anne surprises me all the time with her smart little brain that she likes to hide from us. She loves to pretend like she can't do anything or doesn't know anything...well, because she likes to be babied. But she's gotten not-so-good at hiding it lately, and Brett and I are stunned at some of the smart things that come out of her mouth. Hannah is MORE than ready to read and I know she will thrive in pre-k next year!! I hear this 1,984,287,345 times a day..."mommy, what does _ _ _ _ _ _ spell?" or, "How do you spell ________?" And then she spells it back to herself. I love it (well, most of the time) and love to see her little brain at work.

I haven't gotten any Waco pictures from the grandparents yet, but I'll post them when I do. For now, here are a few pictures of the girls and their garden.

And a few pictures of our Bora Bora trip

One of the only pics we took together on the whole trip

The resort where we stayed

My fisherman fishing off the dock of our bungalow. He was seriously in heaven!!

One of his many catches!

1st Time...

The girl's firsts are always hard for me, and the older they've gotten, the more I've learned not to take them for granted.

One of the saddest days for me lately was when my baby woke up one day and told me she didn't want her crib anymore, that she wanted a big girl bed like Hannah. She and daddy tried really hard to talk me into a bunk bed, but I just couldn't be that cool mom that allowed that, so we found another bed that made her happy, and she couldn't get it fast enough! Taking that crib apart was so hard for me. I cried taking it apart, I cried putting her new bed together and I realllllly cried tucking her into that BIG girl bed!!! She was so proud, and I was so proud of her, but she really wasn't a baby anymore. I told her that I was keeping her glider in her room as long as she lived under this roof, because she's the best cuddler and she lets me rock her all night long!! I love that!!!

Alice Anne also got her 1st haircut today!! Hannah went 1st and she watched Hannah very intensely and then when it was her turn, she freaked out!! She did NOT want to get into that chair. We bribed her with a lollipop, and that made everything better!

Hannah got her 1st "manicure" last week. She's been dying to go to the "special nail place" for the longest time and she got to go as a reward for getting a straight line every day last week. I've never seen her work so hard on her responsibilities!!! She was SO proud and of course we were so proud of all her hard work!!! She deserved it for sure!

We had LOTS of snow days in February and although we all complained of cabin fever, we really did have a good time. Jammy was here the 2nd week of snow, so I got some much needed relief!! I'm not much fun outside when it's snowing. I last about 2 seconds and then I get too cold and have to go inside, but daddy knows how to have fun out there!!! Hannah and daddy have SO much fun playing in the snow together! Alice Anne takes after me, and she's my hot cocoa partner. We could sit at the window and watch them for hours!

I LOVE this video. The snow was starting to melt, but they got a short little sleigh ride on our street and then they loaded up in the golf cart and headed to shadier streets and to the park with "snow hills!" We couldn't convince Alice Anne to ride, but Hannah had enough fun for everyone!

I had to post this picture because our family golf cart rides crack me up!! This is what our weekends usually look like. We have several trips to the park with all 4 of us plus both dogs and Hannah's bike all load up on the golf cart!! So much fun and I hope these are the pictures that the girls will always remember of their childhood!!

Dallas or Antarctica?!?!

It is Beyond COLD here!! We have been locked in our house for 3 days in a row and it's supposed to snow again tonight. Our driveway is a solid 2" ice skating rink and Hannah has had a blast practicing her ice skating skills out there. I would have taken a picture, but it's too cold for me to step outside. We're not used to this and we don't know what to do when it hits us! We're all getting cabin fever and starting to get on each other's nerves, but for the most part, the girls have been great locked in the house! Mommy on the other hand...well, I'm running out of ideas to keep these girls busy! We've done everything, including having a birthday party for each one of our babies and a birthday party for Wally and Ariel!!! I refuse to bake anymore, because I'm so bored I'm eating every single thing we bake, we've read every book we own at least 20 times, we've gone "swimming" in the bathtub, we've played every game and done every learning activity I know to do, we've cleaned our house until there's nothing left to clean, we've organized closets, colored and painted 2,000 pictures, had hot cocoa and popcorn parties in our "dining room chair tent," and played so much playdo that it's almost all dried out! What in the world is left to do? I wouldn't survive the arctics for a day!!!

Ice, Ice, Go Away...Come Again Another Day

They're all bundled up to play outside
Alice Anne did NOT want to come in!!
Baking for the 100th time. No more baking...we're all out of flour and sugar!

Sweet sisters reading books to each other

In case you didn't notice, we've been in our pj's for 3 days, too!!!

Christmas 2010

I can't believe that Christmas has been over for a month and I'm just now posting. Not acceptable...I am going to try really hard to get better. Honestly, we have been so busy and the girls are at a really fun age, that I haven't wanted to take myself away from them! I can't believe how fast they are growing up and I'm having a hard time with it, but we'll save that for another post!

We had a lot of fun this year! The girls favorite thing to do was go look at Christmas lights and go look at the nativity scene in the yard around the corner from our house. We literally had to drive by it every time we left the house and every time we came home.

We had a great Christmas! The anticipation was almost too much for both of them, but Hannah especially. They were in love with Suzy, our Elf on the Shelf, and she worked miracles! All I had to do to get them to do anything was to just glance over at Suzy and it was done! They have been very concerned about her and what she has been doing since Christmas. They want to know if she can come visit soon, etc.

We spent Christmas Eve with Gigi, Grandpop and Bekah. We went to the family church service, and the girls loved singing all the Christmas Carols. We came home for chili and tamales and then the girls got to each open 2 presents. Hannah was almost in tears when she went to bed because she was so worried that the adults were still up and Santa wasn't going to stop if the lights were on.

Santa was good to the girls! They are OBSESSED with everything princess, and Santa must have known, but nearly everything that he brought was princess. The main thing they requested were 18" princess dolls. Hannah wanted Ariel, Sleeping Beauty and Tinkerbell, and Alice Anne wanted Snow White. They got ALL the princesses and their accessories! They were so excited to go down stairs Christmas morning to see what Santa left. Gigi slept in Hannah's room with her, to keep her from coming down at the crack of dawn. I love nothing more than to see the look on little kids faces on Christmas morning. I just remember the magical feeling I felt when I was little!

Late Christmas morning we left for Waco, where Jammy, Papa, Aunt Mary, Carter, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Taylor were waiting for us. The kids wanted to open the rest of their gifts immediately and then we had another big Christmas meal. It was our first holiday meal with an "adult table" and a "kids table," and Hannah was very proud to be the "babysitter" during dinner.

When we got to Waco, Alice Anne was so hot! My poor baby spend the rest of Christmas and 4 days after, in my lap. She was SO sick and it was so sad, but mommy had no complaints of non-stop cuddling!

Daddy was off of work for 2 weeks over the holidays and it was SO much fun being lazy every morning, shopping, eating out a lot and watching Hannah and Brett ice skate several times! They both got pretty good at it!

I'm really upset with myself that I didn't get more pictures. I took a total of 12 pictures the whole weekend :(

Coming downstairs

All of the goodies that Santa left

Alice Anne was SO excited about her new chapstick!

One of Hannah's favorite presents...this bouncy ball. She literally hops around the house now instead of walking! It's so funny!