Spring Break at Lake Hamilton

We got away for a mini vacation during Spring Break while the girls were out of school. My parents and I rented a house on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, AR. My mom and I got to enjoy a day at the spa and the girls loved playing by the lake. The highlights of the trip were feeding the ducks, kicking our feet in the water and riding the Duck around the town. We also had a wonderful lunch at Fisherman's Wharf, stopped by the horse races to see the horses (and make one very bad bet on a horse that came in very last place.) Guess I'm not a gambler! The girls really enjoyed their time with GiGi and PaPa!

Celebrating turning the big 3-0!

I turned 30 February 6th and celebrated all weekend long! Yes, it's a little weird not being in my twenties anymore. How could it not be...I spent the last decade with them. It's kind of like when there's a new year and you have to get used to writing the new date. However, I'm not sad at all about entering this new age group and feel as if I've more than earned it. My family has already grown to a family of four and I'm exactly where I want to be...maybe even a little ahead of schedule! I can already tell this is going to be a very good year!

 My Birthday celebration started early Friday afternoon when Devin came home early to watch the girls. My parents sent me to The Crescent Spa for a facial (which was wonderful!) and then I went and had my nails done. My parents came in town Friday night and we got a babysitter and went to Urbano Cafe. We decided that it had been since before Kate and Lily were born that we all got to go have a nice dinner out. Crazy! Dinner was so good and I always love a place where you can bring your own wine. We brought a special bottle that we purchased at Elizabeth Spencer on our first trip to Napa. Well worth the wait. It was amazing!Oh, and my mom made me an amazing white chocolate birthday cake that was so good. I definitely finished the last half of the cake all by myself!

The clever card my parents got me. I actually did buy a bottle of wine on my birthday and didn't get carded. It's like the person checking me out could sense I'm 30!

So sad this wine is gone

My Mom and I at dinner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday morning Devin surprised me with a very special gift. I should turn 30 more often! He got me a beautiful blue topaz ring and I would love to show you a picture but it was one size too big. We took it to David Yurman to exchange and they ended up having to send it off for sizing. I won't get it back for two weeks. Sad face. It really is pretty though and I was pretty surprised. After that Devin and I headed to Fort Worth to celebrate my birthday together. We checked into our hotel and rented the Descendents which was a great movie. So glad we got to see it. Then we got ready to meet up with our friends Courtney and Robby for drinks. It was fun catching up and then Devin and I had dinner at Lili's Bistro on Magnolia. And the best part....sleeping in Sunday morning!

Courtney and me

Devin and me

 

 

 

 

 

Devin had to travel a lot this week and my actual birthday was Monday. I was able to get a babysitter again and my good friends Catherine and Jennifer drove over from Fort Worth to take me to dinner at Urbano Monday night. It was so much fun catching up with them and I really appreciated them spending my actual birthday with me! Unfortunately, no pictures. Guess we were too busy talking and eating...as usual.

I couldn't have asked for a better Birthday. Thanks to everyone who made it so special!

What's going on...

I wish I had lots of fun pictures to post but the reality is I haven't been bringing out my camera much lately and Kate and Lily haven't been in the best picture taking moods either. Don't get me wrong, we've been having lots of good times and the girls are growing and learning new things like crazy. But, we've also had lots of really hard two year old moments that have been wearing this mommy out. Look how big these two are getting! One more thing....the girls are starting to consistently use the potty. We stayed home all day Saturday and let them wear underwear and they only had one accident during dinner. They slept in pull ups for their naps but they did excellent and I'm hoping after a few more weekends of staying home and practicing that they'll be out of diapers. I can't imagine. Fingers crossed!

Lily playing dress up

Kate

Kate taking care of her baby

Lily not having anything to do with this picture

The back of Kate's head...just added this to show how much hair they're getting!

Lily dancing (iphone picture)

Kate shopping (iphone picture)

December 2010 and December 2011

Christmas in Redstone, CO

 We spent Christmas again this year in Colorado. It was a little challenging getting up there but we had a great time with Gans and Pampa (Devin's parents) once we finally made it. Side note- we will be flying next time we make this trip! The girls enjoyed the snow much more this year than last, especially riding down the driveway on the toboggan and Devin and I got to spend a day in Aspen as well as go snowmobiling. We ended the trip at the Glenwood Hot Springs pool. It was 10 degrees outside and we got to spend the afternoon swimming. Definitely the highlight of the trip!

Kate

Lily refused to wear her hat and would only wear my gloves...luckily Devin's Dad had an extra pair. Another side note- dressing toddlers in snow gear can be very challenging!

Kate in front and Lily in back

Playing with Poppie and Daisy (the dogs)

Christmas Card pictures..the ones that almost made it...

We haven't sent out our Christmas cards this year because I just finally got a picture Sunday that I wanted to use. They'll be going out sometime next week..just in time! Here are a few cute ones I got while trying to get that perfect picture. Kate is in the white dress and Lily is in red.

Too bad its blurry!

Pictures from my phone

Lily picking out our tree

Kate tasting the tree. She said it was yucky! We went with a table top tree this year so Kate and Lily won't be tempted to take the ornaments off. Good idea but they can still climb on top of the table.

Christmas dresses I made for Kate and Lily and their cousin Sloane.

The girls decorating the tree that goes in their room. All the ornaments are on the bottom!

Kate and the TCU tailgate. Go FROGS!

First haircuts

 Kate and Lily have been struggling to grow hair since shortly after they were born. They had pretty dark hair when they were born and then it all fell out shortly after. It then grew in a light brownish blond color. I don't want to cut bangs so we've been trying to grow them out for about two years now. The back of their hair has grown more so they pretty much have a mullet. Our good friend Alison who babysits for the girls time to time does hair so offered to trim their mullets. She came to our house and the whole process lasted 5 minutes. They really don't look any different but I'm hoping the trim will make their hair grow back longer and thicker. We'll see! We strapped the girls in their booster seats, turned on the television and gave them fruit snacks to sit still. It worked!

Alison with the girls pre-haircut

Kate clapping after her hair was trimmed

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Lily

We decided to finger paint after since we were so good during our haircuts

Kate's masterpiece

What the two year olds have been up to

Kate and Lily have been busy, busy little girls.

Kate

Lily

We converted our cribs to toddler beds a few weeks ago.

Kate

Lily

So far it's going pretty well. It gets challenging during nap time because they talk FOREVER before going to sleep and like to get out of their beds every once in awhile to play with each other. However, that's really not different that when they were in cribs because they both have been climbing out of their cribs for months.


Devin and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary October 28th. My parents took the girls to Shreveport for the weekend and we got to stay in Dallas child free. It was amazing. Can't tell you how many times we went out to eat over the weekend! 

Unfortunately, Devin and I didn't take any pictures over the weekend so I'll post one of my 3 most favorite people in the world instead!

We celebrated Halloween with friends in the neighborhood. I have no pictures of this. The only reason I'm bringing it up is to note that Kate and Lily refused to wear their costumes. Kate was a bumble bee and Lily was a ladybug. Their costumes were adorable and they through fit after fit before I gave up and let them trick or treat in their regular clothes. Oh well. Maybe next year.


Kate and Lily continue to prove to me that they are the messiest eaters in the world. Here's Lily after she dumped honey mustard sauce in her hair from Chick-fil-a and told me she was "washing her hair with it". Disgusting.

 And here the girls decided to throw their macaroni on the floor. If you look closely you can see a noodle stuck to the wall behind Lily. Hilarious.

So that's what's been going on over here. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Lily used the potty!

The day after her 2nd Birthday but I'm just now getting around to documenting it. So now both girls have used the potty once. We're not quite ready to be potty trained but we're getting close! Another barrier we'll have to cross soon is moving to toddler beds. Their cribs convert so that part will be easy but I'm so nervous that this is going to mess up their sleep and nap schedules or worse that they might not even take naps anymore...the horror! About 6 months ago they started climbing out of their cribs occasionally but stopped. Lily decided she would start up again and I found her dancing in the middle of her room without pants or a diaper on. So we've basically moved from crib hopping to crib hopping in the nude. We have lots of new changes we need to make and I'm so nervous to bite the bullet and make them. Trying to keep Kate and Lily in their cribs for 2 more weeks so I can go to a good friends wedding next weekend while Devin watches the girls and so my parents can keep the girls at their house the following weekend while Devin and I celebrate our anniversary. Is that too much to ask???

Pictures from the Arboretum this morning:

Lily

Kate

Having a little picnic!