The Sanford Saga

Family Pictures

2012-02-11T14:36:00.008-06:00

My dear friend Miranda was kind enough to take some family pictures for us year. I didn't want to go get professional ones done until Noah arrived and I could get some of the 3 kids together. She offered and since she takes REALLY good pictures, I thought it was a wonderful idea. Here are my favorites. I know there are lots of them, but you should see how many she actually took. :)

They were taken on November 24th...

December Fun...

2012-02-11T13:25:00.009-06:00

Boy, did December go by fast! It was probably all the stuff we had going on with Christmas and getting ready for the baby, but it zoomed by. We tried to make lots of fun memories too since the girls would have to share some attention soon.

Here they are watching a video that Santa made for each of them telling them they were on the nice list...Eric and I are not really into the whole Santa is real thing, but it is a fun part of Christmas just the same and the girls like Santa for the moment. :)

We had fires in the fireplace on the colder days. This was my rocking chair as a child and I remember sitting in front of a fire with a blanket and toy as well.

There were many sister hugs and snuggles...

There was even some wrestling with Daddy...

And did you know that blue blankets are also swimming pools :)

We enjoyed birthday parties for friends at Chick-Fil-A. First picture is Lilly, then Lexi...

Tea party time at the children's museum in Waco...

We dressed up at the museum. Lilly was a postal worker, police woman. :)

Lexi wants to be a "girl firefighter" when she grows up and was thrilled to see these play clothes at the museum.

After the museum, we went to visit our friend Margaret. The girls got a ride on her walker-chair thing...

3 sweet girls

Lilly pretended Margaret's cane was a microphone and she was a rockstar...

The girls were spoiled with presents from friends. These were new owl masks from Miranda! They wear them all the time now.

There was an abundance of morning snuggles

And getting ready for Christmas pictures with cousins!

Lexi practiced dressing herself :)

And we had some umbrella fun...

Always make time for kisses!

Awwww!

Winter has been mild so far, so we played outside as much as we could.

Lilly...

Have I mentioned that these are the sweetest girls ever?!!

One of Daddy's Christmas presents made for some fun playtime...

Lexi

Lilly again

Eric and Lexi

More fun times with the warm weather...

Innocent Lilly

We went to the Cameron Park Zoo a few times. We always have fun times at the zoo...

Sister love...

One time we even met some awesome friends at the zoo!

We had a good time at the circus,

Eric and Lilly

Lexi clearly likes clowns...

I am so thankful for all our family memories and look forward to many more with 3 kids instead of 2!

Life in November

2012-02-05T20:47:00.010-06:00

November was kind of a quiet and fun month. We LOVE Thanksgiving around here, so we spent a lot of time with the girls trying to get them to understand being truly thankful. I want them to know how blessed they are, no matter what comes up in life and to be able to thank God for all the blessings.

I read the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp (http://onethousandgifts.com/) and it was the best book. Our women's Bible study at church read it together and discussed it. Seriously, everyone should read this book. So now I have my "gift list" going and I got the girls involved in writing their own lists. I actually write them down, but I hope it is a discipline and mindset that sticks.

We concentrated on being thankful, enjoyed ballet class, went to my Dad's house for Thanksgiving, and decorated for Christmas...that about sums up the month. :) It wouldn't be my blog without a lot of photos, so here are some fun ones to show our great month.

Lilly practiced and practiced and learned how to draw balloons on her own. She was so stink in' proud and cute! I was pretty proud too!!

She described this drawing as a worm eating green beans. :)
Lexi's first paper cuts...she was really upset so I told her to show me her grumpy face for the camera. That is a pretty good grumpy face.
Skater chicks :)
On Thanksgiving, we went to my Dad and stepmom's house. The cousins REALLY love hanging out. They are adorable together too. Here are the oldest 4 watching Power Rangers and eating popcorn.

Dad, Lexi, and Eric hanging out...
The four oldest, Tristan, Tanner, and Lilly & Lexi helped Nana make butter. It was a lot of fun and I think they loved it. Here they are with their bowl of homemade butter...

Lilly, Lexi, Tanner...5 months apart and adorable!

Playing outside in the cool air.

The cousins, until Noah was born. :)

They ride on Daddy's back now like an elephant.

Posing...
32 weeks with Noah!
We also enjoyed some yummy comfort food, like Grandma Kathy's chicken spaghetti...
Lilly wanted a mohawk, just like Sneezy.
See, mohawk doggie!
Silly girls...
Ready for Christmas.
They decorated my computer with their nativity scene...
The girls' tree for their room. I think this is super cute!
Ballet class. They are the cutest ballerinas...
I love the crafts they make at church. Handprint turkeys...
And they are still the sweetest, snuggliest girls around.

Longest Hiatus Ever...

2012-02-04T23:02:00.002-06:00

Yep, I am now officially the worst blogger ever. We moved, I was super pregnant, it was the holidays, and I just got lazy. Facebook is just so much easier and faster too. BUT...

I love this blog and refuse to go that long ever again without a post. So if you still actually read this thing, forgive all the catch up blogging I hope to do in the next few days. That is of course, if I get enough sleep.

For starters, I will give a quick run down of our life since the end of November. We kept busy with fun Christmas activities with the girls and tried to enjoy every last moment with just them. Then New Years rolled around and we had made the decision to schedule another c-section with Noah. There were just too many issues and risks with trying a VBAC. So we scheduled the birth for January 10th, 39 weeks exactly.

Our little guy arrived safe and sound and we have been recovering and adjusting to life as a family of 5. It has been crazy and fun all at the same time. So I will try to go back to where I left off and catch up as best I can. Night!

Crafts and Cameras

2011-11-22T08:33:00.004-06:00

I found a fun blog the other week and have already used some of her fun kid craft ideas.

http://www.meetthedubiens.com/

One Saturday morning, the girls were starting to get on each others nerves (such drama queens!), so I grabbed the pipe cleaners and we had some fun. I made them for the most part, but they enjoyed putting them on and posing for Daddy and the camera. We even made some for our friends and took them over.

Lilly bug...

Lexi...

Eric is the best Dad and sport ever!
Oh, and did I mention that Sneezy is a pretty good dog to put up with us? :)
I have also been making some new headbands for them. They don't like to leave anything in their hair for long, but headbands seem to be the current favorite. The girls love standing up on the fireplace to model new stuff, whether headbands or winter boots.
They have also developed a love of my camera. Lexi asks almost every day if she can take a picture for me. I put the strap around her neck and help her hold it while she points and takes the picture. She took this one of Lilly the other day...not too bad.
But of course, if Lexi poses for Lilly, she has to make a "funny face". She is my child, isn't she?
As much as I prefer some things to the drama of the three year old, it is tons of fun to see them want to listen to a particular song so they can dance, ask to wear fancy dresses every single day, try to learn to be mini adults, and thrive just being their own little selves.

Zoo with Daddy

2011-11-20T20:16:00.002-06:00

January 2010...

September 2010...
November 2011...

Cute

2011-11-08T20:21:00.005-06:00

These are just some sweet and cute pictures I have taken the past month or so. I love looking back over pictures that represent our daily life. It just makes me smile. :)

Lexi refused to take her favorite coat off after church one Sunday. She wore it until dinner.

Silly girl...
Daddy and Lilly as jazzercise instructors.
Playing around while Eric checked on something at the AT&T store.

We took a walk around the beautiful UMHB campus and Lexi was practicing her Crusader "C".

We all loved these hats. I might just have to put them under the Christmas tree.

Lexi puts the chairs this way when she asks me if she can help straighten up the kitchen after dinner.
Pretending to look at the stars and make wishes...
Lilly's favorite mask. It broke last week and that was a sad afternoon.
Lexi prefers bear ears...
Lexi also likes wearing Lilly's crown.
Aren't ordinary day pictures the best?!

Catching Up Again

2011-11-08T19:19:00.004-06:00

Well I knew I was behind, but thanks to my Dad I decided to catch up again. Things have been busy and I may have hit my third trimester slump of being tired all the time. Today I am 30 weeks pregnant and it feels so weird not being in bed all the time. I jokingly told Eric tonight at dinner that I don't remember being this tired and awkward at 30 weeks. I then had to remind myself that I had no other kids and had to lay in bed all the time with nothing better to do than sleep. So yeah, running errands with 2 three year olds and doing laundry, cooking, and cleaning the house wear me out at 30 weeks. :) It is so worth it though. I cannot wait to meet this squirmy-who needs sleep when you can kick Mommy-little guy. He is amazing and hilarious already. He responds to Lilly's voice the most out of the girls and loves to kick her in the back when she is sitting in my lap.

I had another sonogram at 28 weeks and he already had chubby cheeks and was sucking his thumb. He is definitely tied for the cutest little thing I have ever seen! So we will wait approximately 70 more days and meet our sweet Noah Matthew.

I will now get back to the little girls who are eating up every part of this fall season. I think I mentioned going to 2 pumpkin patches in a previous blog. These pictures are from the second one. It is close to our house and run by a local church. I love comparing the pictures of the girls from every year at this patch. This is the pumpkin patch we took them to at 4 months old. They don't sit still anymore, but they love it even more.

This picture was not posed or prompted. They often hold hands when we are out and about, and it is one of my favorite things.
Lilly then Lexi...
Lilly loves the gourds.
We told them to just run around and enjoy their time...they literally ran around giggling and chasing each other.
Cute pose...
Me and my beauties...Noah is hiding behind his sisters :)
Daddy and his girls...
Snoopy...need I say more.
Lexi's favorite!
They held all the hands of the scarecrows too. :) They're too cute!
Serious sister talk...
My 26 week belly shadow...
When you ask Lilly if she had fun...
When you ask Lexi if she had fun...
Some past pictures from the patch...

2010 - This was the best one I could get of them together last year. They were hyper and it was windy. Plus apparently it is uncomfortable to sit on a bunch of pumpkins. :)

2009 - Cutie pies!

2008 - And last but not least, my 4 month olds.

I LOVE fall and think my girls do too!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-25T13:36:00.007-05:00

We also took the girls out to Sweet Berry Farms in Marble Falls to explore and play in their fun pumpkin patch. The girls had a blast posing for pictures, getting their faces painted, riding a horse, and picking flowers.

Lilly LOVED these candy corn stakes. They matched her shirt. :)

Lexi was also a big fan...

A family shot thanks to Lindsey and Stephen Watson. :) I tried to put my hand on baby Noah so it was more obvious that he was in there. :)
Lilly took it seriously when it was time to stand still and watch Lexi get her face painted.
Beautiful roses (Lexi then Lilly)
Since Eric lost his wedding ring, he got one painted on for the day. It was cute, but still not the same. Boo!
Snuggle time with Lexi and Daddy
Lexi riding her big horse...
Lilly was in love with the horses. She didn't want to get off.

The goats were not very hungry either. It was disappointing for them that they didn't want lots of petting.
On to pick flowers...this was my favorite part of the trip. Lexi had a blast using the scissors and letting me put the flowers in the cup.
Beautiful flowers with beautiful girls...Lexi then Lilly.
We almost forgot to sit in the pumpkins for pictures b/c the girls were having fun doing everything else.
Sisterly love!
I think they had a great time! What do you think? :)

We even got to have the flowers brighten up the house for a day or so....

Posing for Mommy

2011-10-20T20:49:00.006-05:00

I said in the last blog that the girls have been all about posing for me lately. It is super cute and fun! So here are some cute "posed" pics from the past couple of weeks...

Lexi

Lilly

Lexi

Both goobers...

Lexi in blue

Sweet sisters (Lilly on the right)

One of my favorites...

In these, we were waiting for Daddy to get home to go to the local pumpkin patch...Lexi is on the left.

Now Lilly is on the left...

Now Lexi again...ha ha! They kept switching spots. :) Lexi stays on the left until the last shot.

Surprised face!

Funny face!

Now this one is my FAVORITE! Aren't they precious!?! Lilly then Lexi...

Pumpkin patch pictures to come soon!

Finally...

2011-10-20T20:00:00.004-05:00

Now that the house is mostly put together, I have been enjoying my down time and normal daily life again. It is kind of nice to just have laundry, dishes, and cooking stuff to worry about as opposed to packing, un-packing, and wondering where something is. Lilly has gotten sick twice since we moved, thankfully for only a day at a time. We were just so ready for a normal routine again.

And since it seems we are finally done with the horribly hot temperatures, we took advantage of the nice weather this week. I can't get enough of the cool breezes and gorgeous blue skies. :) Weather is finally my friend again. This week we walked to the park and played for a while. It was sooooooooo nice...

Sneezy has thoroughly enjoyed the backyard with nice grass...If I let him outside, I usually have to make him come back in an hour later.
Nice wind and cool temps make for some fun pictures...

Lexi

I think these are the funniest pictures, but it shows how happy he is and how much he loves the cooler temps too...

The girls have also started to pose for pictures (FINALLY!!) and ask me to take their pictures. We had the community park all to ourselves, so they begged for pictures. According to Lexi, "Mommy, the park isn't as much fun without other kids!"

Lilly is in red and Lexi in purple...

Here is to many more beautiful days and fun times with my special goobers!

For Love...

2011-10-14T21:39:00.000-05:00

All for the love of "the Sneeze"...

House

2011-10-14T13:05:00.002-05:00

We still have a few things to do, but the house is live-able and nice. We still have to hang up some outdoor things, and organize a couple of closets. I just like the fact that it looks picked up and there are no longer boxes and plastic bins everywhere. I will eventually get back to blogging on a regular basis. It has been hard lately with the pregnancy, the two 3 year olds, and the house. I am back to my old self with taking pictures though. :) I took 109 pictures at the pumpkin patch last night. He he he! No worries, I deleted a few of them.

So here are a couple of pictures of the girls new set-up. They like it and it helps that it's similar to their old room.

I am nesting super early for Noah too. I think the fact that I didn't get to nest for the twins has spurred me on. We will definitely have his room complete and ready in the next few weeks. :) Yea! We painted the walls, "mid-day mocha" and are decorating above his crib with stars in colors matching his receiving blankets and quilts. Here is a sneak-peek at a couple of stars...

Still Here...

2011-09-27T10:44:00.004-05:00

We are busy, busy, busy. I feel like all I have done this month is pack boxes, move boxes, and clean. I am rather tired of cleaning baseboards. :)

We will be closing on the house this Friday and then the moving begins. Our house is up for rent with a great rental company and should hopefully be ready for someone in 2 weeks. I cannot wait to get into the new house and paint Noah's nursery!

Women's Bible study has started back up and I LOVE studying Jonah with my group. The girls love playing with the other kids. Last week when I picked them up, their teacher told me that 5 kids had to go in time out, because they climbed up on the train table and jumped off onto a big bean bag, squishing each other and getting upset. It was, of course, my 2 little girls and 3 boys. :) They love to play with the boys. I was proud of them though, since they apologized to their teacher and promised never to do it again. I hope that means they are learning.

Eric's work is going great. He is staying busy, loves his job and his co-workers, and they got the company's certification this past week...woohoo!!

So for now, I will stick with a few pictures. After the move, I will try and update with more of the new house and Noah's room.

Here is the big belly at 23 weeks. I am now 24 weeks as of today. Woohoo!

My girls cheesing it up at lunch last Sunday...
We celebrated my nephew, Tristan's birthday party a couple of weekends ago and the girls had a blast.

Lexi took a "fake" pony ride...
Then they had real pony rides...from left to right, we have Eric, Lexi on the back, then Lilly and Uncle Jason.
Lilly bug...

Lexi had some bad dreams during naptime one day, so I put her in bed with me, and she slept another hour. I love those sleepy, precious faces.

Ballet is still going great. They LOVE, LOVE, LOVE dancing and ask about it every day. I thought this picture of Lilly was sweet.
Last week was invite a friend week and the girls wanted their best friend, Kiley to join them. They had so much fun! We ran by Taco Bell before class and shared some tacos too.
After one of their dances, Lexi ran back to Lilly and just wrapped her arms around Lilly. It was super sweet!
We found this onesie for Noah at Old Navy. The girls call Eric "their Superman", so it was sort of a no-brainer that Noah wear this outfit.
I am really going to try not to stress out with this move...until later!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-14T20:09:00.000-05:00

Fun With Friends

2011-09-03T20:23:00.002-05:00

We met up with our amazing friends today! The girls were screaming and giggling the entire way to see them...

We spent some time in Nolan Creek and on a couple of playgrounds in Belton. Poor kids would have stayed all day if it hadn't been for a tired, slightly-dizzy, pregnant momma. :)
Lilly's beautiful smile...
Lexi couldn't stand still enough for a smile...

We used to share...

2011-09-03T20:13:00.003-05:00

The few times we have gone out for an ice cream cone, Eric and I have shared our cones with the girls. We figured we would let them have their own today. They are, after all, three years old now. Although they did not seem to understand that ice cream melts, they thoroughly enjoyed taking their time and savoring the treat. Sweet, sweet girls!

Lilly...

Lexi...
Lilly...
Lexi...
I think we used 15 napkins and a few baby wipes. All in all, it was a good time!

Houses, Ping Pong, & 20 Weeks

2011-08-30T20:44:00.005-05:00

Life has been super busy and crazy around here. First we briefly considered looking for a new house, just for more space. Then Eric and I agree to look for ~2 years so we really know what we want and can find the perfect place for the family. Then Eric realizes now is the time to buy and somehow convinces me amidst the pregnancy hormones that we should start looking. We spend 3 to 5 days a week looking at houses for a few weeks. Then I have a panic/freak out after the girls have a bad-behavior day and worry about moving. So Eric gives me a week to not even think about buying a new house.

Then we consulted a brilliant architect friend of mine to see if it's worth re-modeling or adding onto our house. The verdict...it's a much better decision to buy a newer, bigger house and use this house as a rental property.

After that, we went back to searching for houses. This time, we had a plan and made MASSIVE lists. After 3 days, I found my perfect house that felt like it was made for us and our 3 precious kiddos. Eric took a little more time to consider since our options were so different. When he finally agreed, I was thrilled! We made an offer and are just negotiating on a few little things, but we will hopefully have a new place by October 1st!!

To the other thing going on...Eric managed to badly injure his shoulder in a competitive ping pong game at the office. :) Don't ask. He is hopefully having an MRI in the next couple of weeks. The several doctors and professionals that he has asked have told him surgery looks likely. :( I am so bummed. This belly is getting bigger and bigger and I am already having a little trouble bending over the tub to wash the girls hair and now Eric is unable to help. I just hope if it is a tear that he will have a good surgeon and therapy will help quickly. It looks like we will need to hire some movers to help us move.

My mother-in-law was able to come for a visit last week, and I was so sad when she left. She is just like my mom and I adore her! The girls refused to eat dinner the night she left, because as Lilly said, "I wanna wait to eat until Nana can join us, Mommy!" It took some explaining but the girls finally ate. We wish she and Papa lived closer!

Today I am also 20 weeks along!! We decided on our sweet little man's name, Noah Matthew. We love that name so much and are very proud to be his parents. He has already stolen our hearts and it is so much fun feeling him respond to his sisters' and Daddy's voices. Eric teaches him about something every night and he just somersaults and kicks away listening to Eric. I am looking forward to getting into the new house and decorating his room. We picked paint colors yesterday based on his bedding.

I am feeling good, except for growing bigger and bigger every day. As long as he keeps growing healthier, it's okay with me. I do get winded faster and have minor back pain, but I had those issues with the twins too. For some reason, I am craving hot chocolate during the hottest part of the day! Hot chocolate when it is over 105 degrees outside. Crazy!!

It's a...

2011-08-17T16:40:00.002-05:00

We got to go take a peak at our little munchkin this morning and it appears my gut feeling was right...we are going to have a baby BOY!!! He still measures to be on track for a January 17th due date. It was fun watching him sleep. It was 10 am, which is usually a quiet time for him. He wiggled his toes around a little bit and put his hands up over his face, but he was pretty comfy in there.

It is also nice to see and hear that all the organs have formed correctly so far and he has a normal heart, kidneys, bladder, brain, spine and spinal cord, and other main organs. So far, he looks perfect and we can't wait to meet our little man! I'll try to post some ultrasound pictures later.

Ballerinas

2011-08-12T20:05:00.002-05:00

Today was the first day of ballet and tumbling class. These were two very excited little girls!!

They loved their teacher, Miss Brittany...

It was really cute, the girls had to be next to each other for most of the class.
Learning to point their toes...
Lilly cried when we left. I guess they had a good time!

What To Do...

2011-08-12T14:12:00.003-05:00

Sometimes when it is the 63rd consecutive day of over 100℉ temps, you just have to stay inside and make some cheesecake. You know what I mean? And it's even better when it's sopapilla cheesecake and these gorgeous little goofs are your helpers!

Decked out in their cooking best! The cheesecake was so easy to make that I think they were disappointed that they only got add vanilla to cream cheese. However, licking the filling off the batters made up for it.
Then they got to play "sleepover" while it baked.
That's a recipe for a good, hot, summer day inside. I think they are having fun. What do you think?

Books!!

2011-08-07T20:10:00.006-05:00

My world has been overtaken with books recently, which is never a bad thing. Some very sweet and precious family members with older daughters sent us boxes and boxes of great books. The girls have been absorbed in reading them. Well, when I say reading them, I mean Eric and I are mostly reading them to the girls. They are starting to enjoy looking at and reading books by themselves, but they LOVE to know what the story really says, so they make us read a lot.

They were so surprised to get these boxes. I loved their faces as I opened them and they saw all the books inside...

Thank you to Greg, Denise, Ashley & Alyssa!!! We really appreciate it!

Differences

2011-08-07T19:08:00.002-05:00

I sit here at almost 17 weeks pregnant, and am SO excited to be feeling better. This pregnancy is so different than my last one so far. It cracks me up, because you just never know what to expect with pregnancies. Friends with 4 and 5 kids have told me how each one of their pregnancies was totally different. But I wanted to remember how different this one was from the girls.

Lilly & Lexi

Nauseous to the point of getting sick but only a handful of times and only from about week 8 to week 13. Also sick from only about 9 am to 1 pm.
Felt the first flutter at 13 weeks. It felt like like little butterfly wings tickling me.
Started feeling round ligament pains after ~20 weeks.
Heartburn started at the end of the pregnancy.
My nose was constantly stuffed up and I could hardly breathe at night.
Craved mostly chocolate, milk, sweets, banana pudding, and a few other things that slip my mind right now.
Quit a HUGE caffeine habit cold turkey with minimal issues.

Baby #3

Constantly nauseous all day and night from week 6 to week 15. That sucked! Thankfully, God let me have it worse at night, so I could still take care of the goober girls all day.
Felt this little baby at 15 weeks. This one is quite an active little booger. I felt him once and then went a few days without feeling much. Now I feel him almost every day, a couple times a day. Today little peanut woke up during worship at church, during lunch, and several other times already.
Round ligament pains are quite intense right now, but I am getting HUGE fast.
I had heartburn from week 2 and it was horrible.
This time, my nose is runny and not stuffed up so far. I prefer being able to breathe. I am also getting bloody noses which I didn't get last time.
Craving more salty and spicy foods than I have ever eaten in my life. My favorite thing is Taco Cabana's black bean burrito with sour cream and salsa. I also went through a mashed potato and hamburger phase.
I think this one is because I have two small children keeping me busy, but I have been unable to completely give up caffeine. I read that doctors suggest limiting caffeine to 200 mg a day, so I cut it down to about 100 mg a week. Right now, our tradition is getting me a yummy Starbucks on the way to church on Sunday mornings. I researched the caffeine levels and get a coffee with 75 mg.

So far, these are the main differences, well the ones that I am willing to write on the blog. Last time, I never felt a single contraction and had no idea I was in labor at 34 weeks. I am not looking forward to feeling all the labor pains this time. I hope I don't again, but I surely can't be that lucky twice. :)

I have a big ultrasound on the 17th of this month to find out the baby's gender!! We are super excited about it and counting down the days. And if, for some reason, the baby isn't cooperative, we will at least get better pictures and get to see my little kicker!

Also at my next OB appt in 3 weeks, we are going to be discussing the OR report from my c-section. My doctor is wonderful and has no problem with letting me have a VBAC. However, she needs to go through my file and see the specific details of my surgery. Lexi was super low and was sitting right on my cervix and they had to be careful cutting me open. It will all depend on where the uterine incision was made and any other things they may have had to do differently based on my situation. So we will discuss whether another c-section is necessary b/c of the last one, or if my body can try for a VBAC. I trust her decision, but for healing reasons, hope to avoid another surgery. I told her we would do what was best for me and the little one. :)

Been A While...

2011-07-29T20:08:00.008-05:00

I am just a little behind on blogging. Things here have been busy and as anyone else with 2 three olds knows, a little crazy. I am still thankful for them though. ;) Tonight Eric went to a friend's wedding and I put the girls to bed by myself. We read our book and climbed into bed to say our prayers. I always thank God for our blessings and the girls usually do too. Tonight was the first night in a while that they were so tired, they didn't want to add any prayers to mine, but Lilly wanted to know what our blessings were. So I explained a little bit how amazingly blessed we were and all the things we had to be thankful for. I reminded her that Daddy had a good job and we had a nice house, comfy car, food to eat, toys and clothes and friends..her eyes got really big and she exclaims, "Wow! We have everything, Mommy!" I love that girl!!

So what have we been doing to stay busy? Reading, dancing around the house, baking cakes that I made with my Mother, swimming, going to playgroups, organizing and packing up our other bedroom so it can be a nursery, etc...It looks so simple written down.

So I am including some of my favorite pictures from our summer fun.

We can't possibly leave out the dog! My sweet boy just lays there and looks at them as they decorate him...quite often you will find Sneezy running through the house with a blanket tossed on his back or a toy tucked under him while he sleeps. I think he loves them!

After dinner snuggle time...I was amazed at how much they still look alike.
Grocery store shopping...Lilly begged me to take their picture cause they were being so sweet. It only lasted a minute though. It was about ten minutes after I took this picture, that I smiled and apologized as I wheeled them out of the store screaming and crying. :) They started arguing and Lexi decided to slap Lilly in the face. I told them they couldn't have a balloon. They know the rules...good at the store, they get a balloon at the checkout; bad at the store, no balloon.

Ahh, the lessons children have to learn...
15 weeks last Tuesday...I am getting the same square shape so far that I had with the twins. However, the twins were both transverse and sideways, so with them, the shape of the belly made sense. This time, I think I am just getting big really fast.
We replaced the dog-destroyed mini blinds with nicer faux wood ones and put up light-limiting curtains in the baby's room.

We took the girls to see Winnie the Pooh...great movie! We loved it!

Then afterwards, we took the girls to our favorite chinese place in town. This is Lilly, who loves sesame chicken, egg drop soup, and egg rolls just as much as she loves pb&j's.

Lexi Sassy Pants...
Stinker girls...

Dancing together in the living room...They push the coffee table out of the way almost every day and practice ballet and gymnastics. They actually start ballet and tumbling classes on August 8th. Woohoo!
They got these cool tops from their cousins and one day they got so excited about them that they begged to go eat chinese again. :) We had a girl date with some delicious food. Can you tell I am now craving chinese food with this pregnancy?
We took a day trip to Round Rock and got the girls a new and larger dresser at Ikea. We are going to use the other dresser in the nursery.
We spent one Saturday at our vet clinic's open house. We love our vet and when we saw they had some fun stuff going on, plus saw the dogs from the local shelter were visiting, we had to stop. The girls got their faces painted and got to snuggle lots of sweet animals. They even got to tour the surgery center. While the girls thought it was cool, I got a little woozy.
We've also enjoyed park time and splash pads with friends...

You can't forget the rare nap that my girls take...I love this picture of Lexi!

We have had a blast with friends from church. We had a family movie night a few weeks back and watched Cars while eating pizza, fruit, and cookies. It was a lot of fun!

Lake time fun...Lexi and Mommy!
Lexi and Eli spinning around in the water...
I like this one of me with my sweet girlies! Thanks for taking it, Miranda!

Lilly and Kiley...

And I know most of you won't care about this picture, but I love it. This is how Lilly eats her string cheese. She rips it into little pieces, makes a bouquet out of it, and then eats it. She's funny!! (Sorry, the font is messing up and won't take the underline off this paragraph.)

Well that is our fun summer so far. We'll try to stay cool while it remains between 103℉ and 108℉ this week.

Baby Names

2011-07-11T21:51:00.002-05:00

So I have, obviously, been thinking a lot about baby names lately. Thus I decided that writing a post on why we named the girls what we did might be fun and interesting. We picked our favorite boy and girl names sometime early into the second trimester. We were going to name a girl Lilly Kathryn. Eric and I really wanted a name with a good meaning, me a little more than Eric, but still...Lilly means, "Innocence and Purity". How perfect for a precious little girl! Kathryn also means pure, but since it was my Mother's name, it was going to be her middle name, no matter what.

Then at 19 weeks, when we had the first sonogram and saw 2 little girls, we had no clue what to do for the names. After a few days, we decided to take our favorite name apart and find one more good first and one more good middle name. Eric's Mom's middle name is Ann and we thought that went so nice with Lilly. It also means "grace, favour". So now we had Lilly Anne.

We took a while to put a name in front of Kathryn. I was driving to work one morning and it hit me. I called Eric from work and he had thought of a name too. It was the same name, Alexis! I of course, picked it because it was so pretty and we could call them Lilly & Lexi. Eric liked it because the Kentucky Wildcats were in Lexington, KY and he could call her his little Lexi Cat. Only a man would choose his daughter's name based on his favorite basketball team. :) Alexis means, "Helper, Defender".

So now we had it...Lilly Anne and Alexis Kathryn. Gorgeous and perfect in every way to us!!

I am having a much harder time figuring out what to name this one if it's a girl. Boy names are easy. I love quite a few of them and the hard part will be narrowing them down to one name. But girl names are proving to be super difficult. I like quite a few of them, but I am not necessarily in love with their meanings. And I just can't pick a favorite.

We have no plans of any certain letter starting the name. Now that being said, we happen to like several L names and since people forget that Lexi is actually Alexis, we have had people assume we will pick another L name. Who knows! We will pick the name that means the most to Eric and I and will be a treasured name for our sweet baby.

Until the decision...

Swimming

2011-07-01T21:05:00.001-05:00

It was a fun afternoon...

11 Weeks

2011-06-28T14:17:00.003-05:00

Today I am 11 weeks pregnant. Woohoo! I really want to get out of the first trimester badly. I realize tons of women are much sicker during this time than I am, but I am having a hard time not being as active with my sweet girls and playing with them. Plus I am still getting sick more at night and I miss feeling good enough to cook dinner and hang out with Eric after putting the girls to bed.

Eric is the best though. He is taking an online literature class right now, so he sits on the bed beside me and reads his assignments while I lay still and watch some tv or play on the computer. It seems boring, but for now, we are content just to be next to each other. And in case I forgot to mention this, Eric really is the BEST!! I love talking to him and hearing about the papers he's writing.

This was yesterday...I am definitely getting bigger faster. I know every pregnancy is different, but after having twins I didn't think I would be this big so fast. :)

Pregnancy Facts at 11 Weeks:

I was about this same size at 16 weeks with the twins. Woops. :)
I seriously dislike thinking about food, but still have to eat something every hour and a half or so to keep from getting weak and nauseous.
Still fit into regular clothes, but they are getting tight. The girls and I went maternity clothes shopping yesterday for a few more items.
I am still going to the bathroom ALL the time and have little energy.
Around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, I start to feel bad and don't want to do anything.
We have started making dinner in the crockpot so I can get it ready when I still feel good.
My next doctor's appt. is next week. Yea!
I am having the craziest, CRAZIEST dreams that I have ever had in my life. I did not have weird dreams with the twins and now I am having them all the time.

More Firsts...

2011-06-28T13:46:00.003-05:00

The girls got their first trim with bangs when they were almost 1 1/2 years old. Then they wanted to grow it out like a princess. :) After Lexi suddenly decided to start chewing on her hair and they both stopped letting me fix it with bows, I decided it was time for a major cut.

They are just such active little girls and they needed something pretty and fun and summery. Here is the new cut...

Lilly is happy about it...

So is Lexi....
The next morning...

I love it!! It bounces and still shows off their curls. Plus it is easier to keep out of their faces even without bows. :) I am really glad we got it cut.

Another new thing was letting them fully pick out their own yogurt at Yo-Yo's and eat their own bowl without sharing. Sounds silly but it totally made their Saturday.

They chose chocolate with strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, and a few chocolate chip pieces. I had to say no to all the other candy pieces though. :)

3 Year Old Stats

2011-06-22T21:39:00.002-05:00

I have been meaning to put this on the blog since last week and keep forgetting. The girls had their well-child check-up on June 13th. I love those appointments...no shots, height and weight checks, stickers, all is well.

The girls grew a little over 5 inches since turning 2. The funniest thing to me is the fact that they had several doctors appointments towards the end of May...all the doctor's offices measured them at 40 inches. Eric and I even measured them and they were 40 inches. They were that height for almost 3 months.

Then suddenly 3.5 weeks later, at their well-child appointment, they measured at a little over 41 inches!! So seriously, they both grew over an inch in 3.5 weeks. I looked at Lilly wide-eyed and said, "Well, my goodness, is that why you're always hungry?!" She giggled and replied with a hearty yes ma'am.

Lilly (at age 3 and 4 days):

Height: 41"
Weight: 34.2 lbs
Head Circumference: 49

Lexi (at age 3 and 4 days):

Height: 41"
Weight: 35.6 lbs
Head Circumference: 49.5

Pregnancy Info...

2011-06-21T08:42:00.006-05:00

I have been keeping pregnancy notes for the baby's book, but thought maybe I should record a few things here so all the kids could read it one day.

Feel free to skip this post if you don't want to read my random pregnancy notes. :)

Started thinking I was pregnant about 3 weeks before I could have gotten a positive test.
Got a positive test at 4 1/2 weeks.
Waited 2 weeks to take another test, just in case. Then I called the doctor and made my 8 week appointment and ultrasound. Since twins are apparently always an option for us, we had already discussed me coming in early to see what was going on.
Got a really good job offer and then unfortunately had to turn it down since a baby was coming. Because of this, half my church and town was finding out I was pregnant.
We decided to tell our families a little earlier than we had originally planned so they wouldn't be the last to know about the baby. :)
Told family around 6 1/2 weeks.
Started showing a little bump at 5 weeks, and started getting sick at 6 weeks. I was nervous about two babies since this was even earlier for sickness than I was with the twins.
I have been much sicker this time than with the twins, but that's ok. :) And of course, I start feeling really bad around dinner time and spend my evenings laying in bed feeling queasy.
My new pregnancy week starts on Tuesdays. Today, I am 10 weeks along. 1/4 of the way through the pregnancy. Woohoo!
This will make a very long pregnancy for me, since with the twins I found out I was pregnant at 7 1/2 weeks and the girls came at 34 weeks, 2 days. This time I knew 3 weeks earlier and have a better chance of going all the way since it is one baby. It will be a long one!
We are curious to see how big this baby will be, since my family tends to have 8 pounders and I had 10 lbs, 10 ozs. of baby with the twins. And since we hope for a VBAC, that could be interesting.
I still fit in regular clothes but I don't like the tightness of them. I am trying out the belly band today for the first time. I think I prefer sweat pants and tank tops, but it's 100 degrees outside, so that isn't the best idea.
I have developed a severe aversion to green beans and Chick-Fil-A lemonade. Things I normally love.
So far, I have craved Wendy's hamburgers, KFC's Mashed Potatoes with gravy, and anything dairy. :) So healthy, right?
I mentioned to the girls yesterday that the baby ought to be able to hear now. I then had to sit still in the chair for about 10 minutes while they talked to the baby and introduced themselves. It was pretty cute!

Anyways, that is my pregnancy stuff so far. I can't wait to see what happens and finally meet this cutie pie this winter!

Movin' on Up...

2011-06-21T08:35:00.003-05:00

The girls were moved up to the 3 year old class at church last Sunday. It was pretty weird for Eric and I to take them to that room. We feel like we just moved them to the 2 year old room. Anyways, we had fun getting ready for church and the girls were ready to be "big girls".

Lexi even wanted to show me how she was going to take care of her baby in January.

It was apparently a fun morning because the girls didn't make it long before they crashed.

Their Actual Birthday, June 9th

2011-06-14T14:52:00.005-05:00

The girls were really excited to wake up on their birthday and tell Daddy they were 3!! We told them they had to climb into bed with us and snuggle for a while, cause we were still really tired. :) We gave them 2 other little gifts and made them for the girls, from the "new baby". They seemed very pleased.

I love the sleepy eyes...

Then they got to pick what they wanted for their birthday breakfast. Of course, they chose something totally healthy...ha, yeah right! They wanted cinnamon rolls and chocolate milk. :)
Lexi above, and Lilly...I think Lilly really liked it.
Next we joined some friends for a fun morning at the splash park. Lilly wasn't so much in the mood to get wet like Lexi was...
Lexi and Waylon. Waylon turned 3 exactly a week before the girls did. He is such a sweetie!
My three year olds...
Playground time...
Lilly needed a snuggle...
After the splash park, we met more friends at Chick Fil A for some nuggets and play time.

Later that afternoon, we went to Barnes and Nobles to buy a book and then relax with a cupcake and some water in the cafe. It was really fun. The girls wanted it to be story hour. :)
We continued the celebrations with dinner with Daddy. Lilly was worn out by then, and this was the best picture I got of her.
Lexi, however, was loving her WHOLE day and all the attention.
She thought she looked like a bride...ha ha ha! You are only turning 3, my love!
We closed out the night with Daddy reading us stories and snuggling with us. :) I love these three!
Now we will enjoy the rest of the year with them being my sweet three year olds.

Catching Up...

2011-06-14T14:38:00.003-05:00

In an effort to catch up on blogging, I figured I should include some of this stuff as well. I should really be napping today, but since the garage door decided to break, I have to stay up while the repair man is installing our new one.

Lexi had her 6 month check-up with her pediatric neurologist the last week of May. She saw someone new this time, but she passed with flying colors. It looks like the trileptal is working and she has been seizure free since starting the medicine. She will get a check-up at Christmas and again when she turns 4.

If all still looks good, we are going to repeat the EEG and see if it is time to wean her off the meds. WOOHOO!!! I am so glad that she is doing well. The girls are terrific patients and the doctors are always impressed with them at the office. This doctor thought they were cute and she gave them sunglasses AND suckers. :) It was a good afternoon.

Then a few days later, we told the girls about the new baby. We had originally planned to wait, but when I saw an amazing crib on craigslist, we told them and then went to get it. They are totally excited to be big sisters. I get lots of tummy kisses every day. :) They were more than willing to model their big sister t-shirts for me too.

Our BIG Family Announcement...

2011-06-12T12:55:00.002-05:00

Yes, you guessed it...I'm pregnant!! Eric, the girls, and I will be welcoming a 5th family member in January! We waited until our 8 week mark to publicly say anything because we wanted to make sure we were really pregnant and that the baby was ok. We had a chemical pregnancy a few months back, so we wanted to be really careful this time.

On June 7th, we got to see our cute tiny baby. There is ONLY ONE this time and we are pretty excited about that too. :) Twins are so much fun and I am really glad I have these two already, but I was hoping for one baby this time.

We saw a healthy, normally-growing, 8 week baby with a good heartbeat. YEA!! We will be back to the doctor in another few weeks to take another peak. :)

Princess (Twincess) Party!!

2011-06-12T11:30:00.008-05:00

So my girls turned 3 last Thursday!! I can still hardly believe it. They are growing too fast. I will be attempting to get caught up on blogging over the next few days. :)

To start the celebrations, we had the girls' birthday party on Saturday, June 4th. They helped me plan the whole thing. I was amazed at how specific with details they were. They wanted a princess party with pink, purple, sparkles, and tiaras. They picked out the cake and the color of the frosting. It was fun having them be so involved.

So the morning of the party, we decorated and pulled out the goodies...they also requested cupcake bites to go with the cake.

The top of the cake was a tiny bit crooked but I am still excited about how the cake turned out. The girls wore the same tiara that was on the cake...

Princess plates and napkins...
Since the party was in the morning, we had to have some cuddle time with Daddy before everyone showed up...
Then it was time to get the twincesses all ready...
I still can't get over how grown up they look...
Our sweet little princesses!!
Our table...
Giving Papa kisses...
Alexis Kathryn...
Lilly Anne...
Then Uncle Nate needed some kisses...
I will admit to helping blow out the candles, but I did give them a chance first. :)
Mommy and her pretty girls!

Lilly approved of the cake...

Their cousins helped open presents...the girls got these dolls that they had both been drooling over for months from Mommy and Daddy.
Uncle Nate and Aunt Tyff (my brother and cousin)...
The grandkiddos on my side of the family...

The girls had so much fun with their friends. I am glad so many cool people could come celebrate the girlies with us.

Next up....a BIG announcement and the girls' actual birthday fun!!

My Three Year Olds

2011-06-06T13:33:00.009-05:00

Well I usually get the girls' birthday pictures done on their birthday, but this month has been insane. We decided it would be easier to get them done a week early. The girls get funnier and funnier with professional pictures. They ham it up like little pros.

Here is my sweet Lexi...

And my sweet Lilly...

We got lots of pictures. Mostly because the photographer was awesome and also because the girls were loving it. Here are the pictures of both my big girls together...

This past Saturday, we had their princess birthday party, but since I asked my Dad to take pictures, that post will be a few days away yet. :)

Sea World, Part 2...Breakfast

2011-05-30T19:56:00.005-05:00

As I mentioned before, they have a Breakfast with Sesame Street deal at Sea World. It was so much fun and worth every penny. We got to go into the park an hour early and enjoy a beautiful spread of eggs, bacon, sausage, seasoned potatoes, toast, jams and jellies, muffins, french toast, fresh fruit, yogurt, cereal, and all sorts of milk and juices. It cracked me up that the girls just HAD to have a chocolate chip muffin.

We had just arrived and found our table. Lilly was anxiously awaiting the Sesame Street gang...

A girl ran in the side door just next to our table and announced the special guests. This was the girls reaction as their favorite characters ran through the door....
Big Bird liked us too!
Lilly was at first scared of Cookie Monster, until I told him that he was always my favorite. Then they LOVED him!

One of their faves...when they told her that their 2nd birthday party was an Abby party, she pretended to blush and hugged them SO tight! It was sweet!

Lexi just kept staring at them while we ate. They made their rounds to every table giving hugs and taking pictures. It was hard for a kid to concentrate on breakfast with Elmo at the next table. :)
See? Elmo was on his way to see Lilly...
She wanted him to pick her up. Ha ha! Elmo did this little gasp and pointed back and forth between them like they matched or something. I asked Lilly if she had told them they were twins and she was too giggly to get it out. He was so sweet to them too.
Lexi gave him a big bear hug!
Lexi and Elmo...
Lilly and Elmo...
Cool Zoe...
She was dancing with them...
Somewhere in between the hugs, the girls realized that Eric and I had apple juice and not milk. They stole our juice! :)
Waiting for patiently for Bert and Ernie...
I asked Lilly if she was having fun and this is what I got...She said, "I'm just so excited!!"

Awwww!!!
Now that is how every morning should start...hugs from your favorite people, good food, and lots of excitement!

Sea World Trip, Part 1

2011-05-30T08:35:00.007-05:00

Warning: This is going to be a LONG post. And yet, I am still splitting it into two parts. :) Prepare for lots of pictures.

Eric and I decided, back in February, to save up for a fun day trip to Sea World. He had this one weekend in between classes and work and it was our last opportunity to take the girls for free. After they turn 3 next week, they will be paying customers. So even though it was Memorial Day weekend, we went. It was SO much fun! And we were surprised at how the crowds seemed normal. I have been to Six Flags on a regular summer weekday with way more people than this weekend.

The girls were so excited that after waking up at 5:30 am to get in the car, they didn't go back to sleep at all.

As we approached the front entrance, Lilly got all kinds of happy!

Lexi was more contemplative. For some reason, she was fixating on the fact that somewhere in there were sharks...

So we actually got there an hour early because we bought tickets to have breakfast with Sesame Street characters before the park opened. That was so amazing and cute that it deserves its own blog post. We will skip that part for now and go straight to all the animal fun...

After breakfast, we first went to see the dolphins. We didn't want to spend the $40 to feed the dolphins, so we just watched them. It was really cool and the girls giggled uncontrollably.

Lilly's reaction to seeing dolphins for the first time...

So cute...
They liked posing with various statues but would NOT turn around for a picture. They were so excited to pet the statues. This was the best Shamu one I could get.
They were not too scared of the sharks after meeting this character. There was something fun and sweet about him dancing around and blowing kisses. It put the girls right at ease.
On our way to see the Sea Lion show, we stopped in to meet the sea lions first. They were super talkative and quite the beggars.
The Sea Lion Show was funny, mostly because none of the animals did what they were supposed to and the actors did a great job of making light of it. It was like watching me wrangle little ones some days. :)

So after discovering that the heat index was 115℉, we decided to grab some lunch and go to the Sesame Street Bay of Play. This place opened just this spring and it is sooooooo necessary. It is basically a big Sesame Street themed splash park.

The air-conditioned restaurant and some hot dogs perked these two right up...
Lexi above, and Lilly below...
Then as we were making a bee-line to the splash park, the girls saw the carousel. This was their first carousel ride. They loved it! It made me nauseous. :)
Lexi and Daddy...
Lilly...who asked me politely not to hold onto her horse, since she is such a big girl and all!
Splash time!! I was so hot and jealous and was dying to jump in, but someone had to watch the back-pack and cameras.

Now that is a good Daddy...see the girls' sunglasses in his shirt?! He is the best!
A wonderful part of Sea World now...
Now that they were all cooled off, it was time for a little shopping and snacking. The girls picked a store close by and were overwhelmed with all the choices. At first they wanted Abby Cadabby lunch boxes, and then goofy little Elmo hats. We were in there for a while. In the end, Lilly fell in love with a large Big Bird stuffed animal and Lexi bought a baby Shamu stuffed toy in a little pink purse.

As we checked out, we got them a bottle of water and an ice cream. Then we headed out into the heat again. Those were some satisfied faces as I handed them the ice cream sandwiches. See, by this time it was 1 pm, and they had been up a LONG time. They definitely needed the sugar rush. :)

The last show we HAD to see was the Shamu show, Believe. It was pretty cool and, as always, the whales are amazing! There was no more "trainer in the water with the whales" stuff like there was when I was a kid. However, the baby whale made up for it. He was so stinkin' cute!
Lilly and Big Bird were ready and waiting...

AND 15 minutes later....I think the long day finally caught up with her. I recorded the majority of the show on my iPhone so she wouldn't completely miss it.

A nice hour long snooze and those two were ready to go a little longer...

Unfortunately, that's when this sweet girl crashed...
So we headed over to the penguins (which is in the air-conditioning), then Lexi woke up and we all enjoyed the sharks and the aquarium together. All in all, it was a wonderful day for the family to spend time together. We got home around 7:30 pm, and after the best showers ever, went to bed. It was worth the trip...at least once every year or so.

The Turtle

2011-05-23T20:58:00.003-05:00

Lexi was really sick for around 11 days, ending last week, but she has actually been struggling with various issues since Easter. We were so ready for her to feel healthy again. One day when I thought I was going to lose my mind if she didn't break her 104 fever, she suddenly perked up. We went outside to get some fresh air and then I saw this little guy. Eric had just made it home and I think we REALLY needed a nice diversion. This little guy had somehow made it to our house. We checked him out carefully, and considered keeping him for a few minutes. I think if Lexi wasn't sick and I hadn't known that turtles can carry Salmonella, we might have kept him.

Eric picked him up and we were pretty sure it was a Red Eared Slider, but we couldn't get him to poke his head out for us to be sure. We ran by our vet to ask if they thought we could take him out to the lake. They said that they had seen tons of them at the lake. So we ran him down to Dana Peak Park. The girls were excited and all giggly.

He was so cute and shy...
Eric set him on a rock in the water and you could just see the joy in his body as he swam around.
Not a bad place to live, huh?
We were very thankful to God for such a beautiful and fun little diversion that brightened up our whole day. :)

A New Game

2011-05-23T20:46:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, I taught the girls how to play Hide and Go Seek. The only real game they have is Elefun and I needed a break from the floating butterflies. I told them how it's played and they were super excited to give it a try.

So I closed my eyes and counted to ten. I heard them run off hand in hand, screaming. They ran into the bathroom giggling. When I got to ten, I yelled, "Here I come!"

I had barely gotten off the couch and they came tearing out of the bathroom, screaming again. They tackled me with a big hug.

And that, folks, is how you play Hide and Go Seek, Lilly/Lexi Style.

Mushroom Quinoa

2011-05-18T19:23:00.002-05:00

This was DELICIOUS!!! In fact, over two days, I ate every single bite. I made it while Lexi was sick, so she and Lilly ate super soft foods and Eric is not a big mushroom fan. I got the recipe idea off of the Make It and Love It blog, but made my own adjustments.

I made the quinoa according to the package with water. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, I sauteed mushrooms, onions, and garlic in a tablespoon of butter. When the veggies were sauteed to my liking, I added the quinoa.

Did I mention this was delicious?! It is such an easy side dish and I know the girls will like it a lot too.

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T21:58:00.004-05:00

I hope all the mommies had a great Mother's day! We had a nice, fun day out and about. We even forgot to take pictures of me with the goobers until bed time. We went to church, had a nice lunch at home, took the girls to see Rio at the theaters, and then finished the day off with the best Sesame Chicken around here. It was a great day!

I love these little goofballs! I love them for making me a Mommy!

Sentimental Comparisons

2011-05-09T13:38:00.002-05:00

Eric and Lilly on the girls first Thanksgiving, November 2008...

Eric and Lilly yesterday, Mother's Day 2011...

These just reminded me how fast they are growing up!

Giggles!!

2011-05-07T22:06:00.001-05:00

Lexi giggles...

Lilly giggles...(and goofy girl!)

Funny Conversations

2011-05-06T20:09:00.003-05:00

I just had to write some of these things down...

Today, the girls and I were driving down the road and Lilly asked about her birthday and if she could then be a big girl and get married. Lexi interrupts and says when she is a big girl, she will be able to marry her Daddy.

I said something like, "Hey. I am already married to your daddy. And we love each other." Lexi says, "You married MY Daddy?!" Then we all giggled a little as I said yes. Then I explained that when they were MUCH older, and they had spent a LOT of time praying to God about a wonderful man that would love them as much as their Daddy loves me, then we could talk about them getting married. But I made sure to ask them to wait a long time before worrying about any of that.

Now, this part almost made me cry...Lilly then asks if I will help her get ready and fix her hair and help her put on her dress when she gets married. I told her that, of course, I would help her. How sweet and precious is she!

Another funny thing they are saying lately, is from the movie Tangled. They love to run around saying, "Struggling is pointless!!" Even when they hug each other tightly. It's funny stuff.

Then today I took the dog to the vet and the girls watched Madagascar with Eric. At dinner tonight, I was teasing Eric and Lexi pops out with, "You mess with him, and you mess with me!" Then she cracked up laughing.

For all the daily drama that comes with this age, they are really becoming clever and funny little girls. I love their senses of humor and the way they giggle. Today was just a blessed day that was super fun for everyone involved. If I had a nickel for every little giggle I heard today, I would be a rich woman. :)

Blogging Hiatus

2011-05-05T07:34:00.007-05:00

As weird as it sounds, I have had so many things on my mind that I kind of forgot about blogging for a while. I hope to make this a catch-up blog and then keep up with it more regularly.

The girls have been a little "off" but the knowledge that they have sinus infections explains all of that. We started antibiotics yesterday and hopefully they will cheer up soon.

When we went to the pediatrician yesterday, she commented on how tall the girls were. I told her that we had just measured them on Tuesday and they were 40" tall. She laughed and said that was the height of an average 4 year old. Guess that's why they wear 4T-5T and XS clothes. :) That also means they are in the 97% for height. I agree with Dr. Riser that they will probably both be taller than me.

Other than being slightly off, we have enjoyed lots of activities and fun times. It is always fun to go to the park. The girls have been on a roll lately with introducing themselves to new kids. On this day, they made friends with two little boys and they chased each other around for half an hour. It was really sweet!

We did not get up early to watch the royal wedding but we watched the re-runs of the ceremony and watched the royal kiss. It was more exciting than I had thought it would be. I suddenly wished I had made pink cupcakes and put tiaras on the girls. But the girls settled for fixing up their hair like little princesses instead....
This is them screaming, "We're princesses!"

This bird adored the girls and wanted to come home with us. I was crazy tempted for a few minutes. He kept trying to kiss their fingers through the glass.

Lilly's "I need a nap and am just so serious" look...
Sweet sisters!

Lexi...
I also purchased our annual lake pass last week. We live less than a mile from Stillhouse Hollow and plan to spend many hours on the beach and playground there this summer. Here are my adorable girls ready to go to the lake and take a walk...

This is my teddy bear that was a gift for my baby shower 31 years ago. Lexi was REALLY hugging him tight the other morning.
I love these pictures because they were having such a cute coversation.

Eric finished the semester yesterday and is preparing for his senior year. :) Yea! He has the weekend off before the May Minimester starts, so we are planning several fun things. Today is date day. I am taking Lilly on a lunch date while Eric takes Lexi on one. Then next month, we hope to switch kiddos and do the same thing. I think they both really benefit from getting full, one-on-one attention. We sometimes forget that they have never been an only child or ever lived alone without a sister. Twins are amazing and I am so blessed to have had them, but I hope we can remind them that they are still special individuals too.

Here's to hoping I blog more often again. :)

Easter Fun & Sickness

2011-04-24T20:22:00.004-05:00

We had a really nice Easter. I wasn't sure I would be able to say that, because Lexi's eyes got gunky on Thursday and we ended up making 2 trips to Urgent Care before Sunday. We are still not sure what it is, but it is mostly over with now. We have been flushing pretty little blue eyes out every 2-3 hours and adding medicinal drops. The girls like to giggle and say, "Mmmmm, yummy!" as we put the drops in. Don't ask. We have no clue. :)

So while we stayed close to home and avoided other people, we had a little egg hunt in the living room. It was a lot of fun. The girls even had me hide a little dog cookie for Sneezy, so he could hunt too.

The girls wanted nail polish for Easter, so I hid little bottles in their eggs along with the candy. Lexi ran over to Lilly and showed her the nail polish. They were so excited to see what colors they got. They got clear with pink glitter, hot pink, red, and dark purple.

They got sweet cards in the mail from their grandparents and great-grandma. Then they got these cute little bunnies from Nana and Papa Tucky. They felt pretty special to get such thoughtful gifts from their family. Thank you guys!

Saturday, they got dressed up in their cute little chick tops even though we were skipping the community egg hunt.

Some hamming around on the bench was in order..
Eye infections can't stop us from swinging in the wind and smiling like it was the best day ever!
Here is a picture that means a lot to me. These are my "four" kiddos. Toby is buried under his red bud tree and then we have the other three goobers. I was excited to get this picture of them all together. :)

Sneezy feels better with his spring/summer cut. Plus, I was tired of brushing out all the sticker burs every day.

Lexi being cute...
Checking out the basil and putting wild flowers in the other pots...
This is just a silly picture that I took on my phone while we were waiting in the Urgent Care clinic. The people there were soooooo nice. We ended up being behind a patient who needed lots of immediate care, so they took my cell phone number and let us leave and take the girls to lunch. They called us when the wait was close to 10 minutes, so we didn't lose our spot or have to sit in the exam room for an hour and a half. That, my friends, is good service!

Look!

2011-04-21T22:16:00.001-05:00

FRONT PAGE of the Temple Daily Telegram today!!! Go Eric!! We may have bought a few copies. :)

Topsey Exotic Ranch

2011-04-16T13:29:00.007-05:00

I absolutely loved Play Day at UMHB when I was a student, but I may have loved it more this year, since it meant that my husband didn't have any classes this Thursday and got to spend the whole day with us. We took the girls to the park for a couple of hours in the morning and then after a healthy lunch at Subway, we drove out past Copperas Cove to Topsey, TX.

There is a place out there that has exotic animals and you can drive through and feed the animals. Then there is a petting zoo at the entrance with more fun animals. We heard about it a long time ago, but finally went. It was a blast! Plus since it is spring, there were lots of little baby animals. We saw many, many baby goats, deer, antelopes, a miniature horse, and a zebra. Talk about ADORABLE!!!

If you live anywhere close to central Texas, this is worth an afternoon trip. Check out the website for more info... http://www.topseyexoticranch.com/

All but one HUNGRY goat were super gentle. They ate out of your hand and were so careful not to bite you. The one crazy goat jumped up on our door several times and scratched the paint off as he slid down. We had to contact our insurance company :( I still say to go though...still a lot of fun!

The zebras were very sweet and let you rub their noses while nuzzling you.
Maybe the cutest baby zebra ever...
I took LOTS of pictures of the babies. :)
Mommy and Lexi
The camel who ate the ENTIRE bag of food out of Eric's lap in one giant bite...

He swallowed the paper bag and the food.
I loved these two.
Eric and Lilly feeding a deer.
The girls were thrilled that they could get out of their car seats and climb up front with us.

The petting zoo had tons of new baby goats. The girls warmed up quickly and pet them for at least half an hour. Lexi would tell them how soft they were and how sweet she thought they were. She just talked away and they all listened intently.
This pregnant one reminded me of myself when I was pregnant. Something about being too large to walk and the way she waddled uncomfortably while being really lop-sided...

Lexi and Daddy with the goats...

Eric made some new friends...

My twins with some goat twins that loved us...
This is "Knock-Knock". He talked and it was super cute!
This little man was adorable...

Well that was a lot of pictures, but it was worth it. Enjoy and maybe check it out sometime.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-13T22:03:00.003-05:00

NASA

2011-04-12T14:23:00.002-05:00

I wanted this to come from Eric himself. So here you have it:

Hello, my name is Eric. I am Sarah's husband, and she has asked me to write to explain what happened during my trip over the last few days. You see, I am using my VA benefits to go back to college, where I am about the enter my Senior year as a Computer Science major. Last summer, I worked an internship in Beaumont, TX, in which I ended up writing a research paper that was published in the International Journal of Information Technology. Based on this research paper, I was recruited to attend an engineering skills competition at Johnson Space Center, where I spent the past few days competing.

The program is called the College Aerospace Scholars program. Now, I know what some of you are thinking, and I thought it at first too......Can a Computer Science major attend an engineering skills competition? The answer is yes, because the definition of an "engineering program" has changed recently. Now, as long as you are a STEM (stands for Science of Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics) major, and your program is accredited by an association called ABET, then you are considered to be an engineering major. In my case, I qualified because my school holds the accreditation, and Computer Science is a Science of Technology field.

Anyway, when we got to the competition, we were broken into teams. There were seven teams, each with six members, for a total of 42 competitors. NASA chose seven people to act as the lead Project Engineers for each team, placing that person in charge of the team. These seven people, myself being one, were the seven who NASA recruited to attend the program (everyone else had to go through an application and acceptance process).

We were told that our teams were competing for a fictional contract to build the next Mars rover. Each team spent a couple of days trying to build a robot that could run through an obstacle course simulating a martian environment, and analyze and collect rock and water samples. Naturally, it is not easy to accomplish such a task in two days worth of time. I had to give everyone on my team specific tasks, monitor their work, and help them solve engineering problems that came up along the way. Naturally, everything that could have gone wrong did, and I was running around like crazy trying to get this thing planned and built in time.

Somehow or another, the robot that my team built happened to perform slightly better than any other team on the obstacle course. So, the only thing we had left to do was make a proposal to actual NASA engineers about why our robot was the best and should be considered for our hypothetical mission to Mars. This was not an easy proposal to give. We had to give the technical details of our robot, a look at what the budget would have to be in order to conduct an actual mission to Mars using our robot design, and answer questions from a field of NASA engineers who were looking for an excuse to discredit our design. To make it worse, we had to present this orally in front of all of the other competitors, the judges, and a large group of other NASA engineers who took the time out of their day to see what sort of ideas we had come up with. In all, we gave our presentation in front of about 150 people.

Those of you who know me well know that I am an extremely good presenter and public speaker. So I gave our team's presentation personally, and we completely blew the competition away. In the end, my team was judged to have won the contract for the fictional mission to Mars. This means that we won! And since I was the Program Engineer for the team, I was the overall winner of the competition.

Since this was a state wide competition for the seven of us who were recruited, NASA officially considers me to be the top undergraduate engineering student in the State of Texas. I talked to them briefly about working an internship with them right after I graduate, but I really don't think I will do it. There would be no guarantee of a job when the internship is over, and quite frankly, I don't qualify for the super cool aerospace engineering jobs at NASA anyway.

But I can now live the rest of my life knowing that NASA once considered me to be the top undergraduate engineering major in the State of Texas, and that's pretty cool if you ask me.

Austin Trip

2011-04-12T13:58:00.002-05:00

Last weekend we ran down to Austin really quick to have dinner with some of my family. My step-brother Jeremy announced that he got into vet school. Congratulations again, Jeremy! We're proud of you and hope you have a blast!

On the way there, Lilly enjoyed protecting her eyes with my sunglasses.

Even though they are cell phone pictures, I just love these pictures of the 5 cousins. Cute kids, huh? :) From left to right, Tanner, Tristan holding Teague, Lilly and Lexi...
I'm not too sure Lilly knew what to do when Teague started crying.
And my personal favorite...

Prayers

2011-04-10T19:44:00.001-05:00

Lilly's bedtime prayer tonight...

"Dear God, please help me listen to Mommy and the angels. The End. Praise the Lord!! And Amen!"

A Spring Tradition

2011-04-09T22:31:00.006-05:00

We had such a fun morning yesterday. A church sponsored a Family Fun Day at the park by our house yesterday. Miranda and I took the kiddos to play. They had games, and candy, and free lunch. It was so much fun. The girls also enjoyed the face painting and the bouncy house.

Kitty cats and hearts...
And butterfly masks...
Later on, we enjoyed one of my favorite springtime activities and traditions...bluebonnet pictures!! Lilly didn't eat much of her lunch, so she was really emotional and grumpy. Therefore most of the super good and happy pictures are of Lexi. :) I am going to take them again soon and try to get some better ones of Lilly.

Lilly has the yellow ribbon on her dress and Lexi has the purple ribbon. :)

Sisters!
Dance for us...
Lilly...

Kiley and Lexi had fun, I think.

Lilly did pose by smelling the flowers.

Such a sweet little pouty face...
These are my favorites of Lexi...

Daddy and two of his girls...
One last attempt to get Lilly to smile and look at the camera...almost had one. :)
I still love these pictures, even the pouty ones. In the moment, a grumpy toddler (or TWO grumpy toddlers) wears on me big time. But afterwards, they are still my precious sweet kids and I couldn't live a day without them.

Ordinary Days

2011-04-01T14:49:00.005-05:00

So what do we do on a normal, ordinary day when we don't feel like leaving the house or doing anything crazy? Well we try to make it exciting anyway. Some days are quiet (as quiet as you get with two little girls), spent reading books and doing puzzles. Other days are more fun. See for yourself!

Lilly and Lexi, do you have your smocks on, and are you ready to finger paint? Hey, where did you go?

Finger painting is always at the end of a messy day, in between dinner and bath time.
Mostly because they like to paint their arms more than the paper. :)
I think they had fun...
Then some days we put on ballet outfits and dance. If I ask nicely enough, they will even sit down and pose for a sweet picture.

Sometimes dress up is in order, even for the horsey. :)

Other times, Sneezy needs extra attention and we go play outside with him.

Pinwheels have added extra excitement too...
And what is a good day at home without some cuddles and kisses from Mommy?
Eric even gets in on the fun by watching Kentucky basketball with the Sneeze!
So at the end of the day, we can all go to bed peacefully and get a good night's sleep. This picture was actually taken at nap time, but I just love it and wanted to put it in here. :)

One Fun Day

2011-03-30T21:39:00.004-05:00

Saturday was the BEST day! It was just tons of fun with lots of activities and time with friends. We got up early and had a nice breakfast before heading over to the park. We met up with a few friends and while the kiddos hung out, we got to visit a little. I love, love, love my girls' friends. We are so blessed to know such amazing families.

After some playground time, we went over to feed the ducks. It appears to be mating season. :) The ducks were not interested in the stale bread, were chasing each other around, and then we found several nests full of eggs. Eric got to show the girls some fish nibbling on the bread since the ducks left it alone.

Here is one of our friends, Jordan. He was born the same exact day as Lilly and Lexi. His Mom, Heather, and I think that is pretty cool. Lilly wanted to find more eggs and wouldn't sit still, but Lexi and Jordan were having a blast hanging out. Can you tell? She only tucks her foot behind someone else's foot if she REALLY likes them.
Then after a nice lunch at home, we suited up for a birthday party to celebrate Eli's 6th birthday. I knew they were going to swim, so we got on their swimsuits, sunscreen, tank tops, hats, and sunglasses. It was 93℉ outside, so we went ahead and went all out for summer sunshine, even though it was just the first bit of Spring. I think they looked pretty adorable!
Party kiddos...the birthday boy being silly in the middle...
Sharing ALL of Kiley's bracelets. :)
Miranda made a super cute cake that looked like Lightning McQueen and little Tow Mater cupcakes. We had a blast hanging out with everyone there.
The girls had so much fun that when I told Lilly it was time to go, she completely fell apart.
Lexi loves cupcakes!
So does Lilly...
Lilly also LOVES to dress up as Spider Girl.
The girls passed out asleep about 5 seconds after laying down in bed that night. Gotta love fun weekends. :)

Flowers

2011-03-28T21:01:00.002-05:00

With the weather being so beautiful lately, I have been taking the girls outside a LOT. The other morning, we took a walk on the trail around our favorite park. The wildflowers are blooming everywhere. We snapped a few pictures and learned about a little about botany. :)

My Loves!

2011-03-23T22:00:00.000-05:00

Need I say more...

Seriously?!

2011-03-23T08:33:00.002-05:00

I guess it was inevitable, but seriously??!!

I asked Lexi to run get me ONE square of toilet paper so we could blow her nose. 5 minutes later, she came back in the living room with a trail behind her. When I went in, this is what I saw. Lovely.

Spring Fairies

2011-03-20T21:38:00.007-05:00

We had a nice weekend. Last week was spring break and the girls were sick for most of it. They are finally getting that last molar in and I hope they finish coming in quickly. So by the weekend, the fevers were gone and we were able to go play a little bit. The girls joined me in the bathroom on Sunday morning while I was getting dressed. Lexi asked me if I would straighten her hair too, but Lilly informed me that she preferred curly hair. :) I still pulled her hair back with one of my clips which made her smile a lot...

This was Lexi's "do" before the straightening iron...
And after...too grown-up looking for this Mommy!
Lilly and her curls...
The after a good morning, we headed outside to finish working on our flower bed. I am so excited to see the plants and flowers start growing. Of course, the girls wanted to wear wings and be fairies. They wanted to help make it spring.

Lilly Fairy...
Lexi tried to help Daddy a lot...
We planted a little box of impatiens to brighten up our doorway..
Lilly also pretended that the brick border was a balance beam...
Lexi - Look Mommy, flowers!

A flower for my flower...
They decorated the horse swing with dandelions...
Lilly...
Lexi helping carry out gardening tools for Daddy...
Lilly loves the bulb digger...
I loved it when Lilly just sat down on the bricks and quietly watched her daddy. It was really sweet how serious she was about it all...

Happy Spring to you all too!

Avocado Salsa

2011-03-18T09:41:00.004-05:00

Eric and I have been counting calories since January. I have lost over 14 pounds since then and we love doing it. It is really fun and easy, because we use www.myfitnesspal.com. It also reminds me to drink more water, eat healthier, and take my vitamins. :)

I used to HATE counting calories before, b/c it was really difficult to know how many calories were in a cup of baby carrots, etc.

Since we started doing this, we have been eating healthier snacks too. This has been a favorite lately and I thought I would share. Of course, avocados may not be low-calorie, but they make up for it by being healthy, filling, and delicious.

Sarah's Avocado Salsa

1 large ripe avocado

1 medium vine-ripened tomato

1 lime

1 tbsp dried cilantro leaves

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

a sprinkle of garlic salt

*Cut the avocado and tomato into small chunks, but don't mash the avocado. Add the seasonings and mix well. Then squeeze the lime into the mixture and gently stir again. Eat alone or on some chips. We like Central Market Organics, Blue Corn Chips.

Enjoy!

Still Here...

2011-03-13T20:55:00.003-05:00

Well among other things, we have just been hanging out lately. :) See? Lexi's new thing is to climb behind Daddy, sit on his shoulders, and mess with his head...literally!

I have also started thinking about their 3rd birthday party. And yes, I know it isn't until June, but I like to know what I'm going to need, buy fun supplies gradually, and practice making any yummy things I want to serve at the party. I am a planner and enjoy being a planner.

The girls wanted cupcakes and cake pops for their birthday instead of cake, so I gave Bakerella's "cupcake bites" a whirl. They were fun, easy, and super tasty. The girls jumped up and down after tasting them and then hearing that I was making them for their birthday party too.

Can you tell that the sprinkle in the middle is a pink tiara?
But since Miranda and I were already making a bunch of these fun things, we mixed up the decorations and tried a few other ideas.

Delicious and cute...can't beat that!!

Blooms

2011-03-07T21:41:00.003-06:00

I was so excited to come home from Oklahoma and see that Toby's tree had started blooming! We bought a Redbud tree for him and Eric worked super hard to make sure the roots were properly established. I think he did it. I am looking forward to seeing this little guy grow and thrive.

It was really cold in Oklahoma and we didn't go outside a lot. We had such a wonderful time, but I didn't take very many pictures. I will try to post about the trip later today.

Babies Need Milk

2011-03-02T14:17:00.002-06:00

If you have read my blog from the beginning than you know how much I LOVE the Mother's Milk Bank at Austin. Right now there is a huge shortage of breastmilk available to sick and premature infants across the country. Please share this information with everyone you can. I am definitely donating again when we have another baby. It is easy to do and sooooooo worth it!!

http://www.pitchengine.com/pitch/128494/

Miranda's Pictures

2011-03-02T09:08:00.004-06:00

My friend Miranda got a camera for her birthday a few months ago. She was sweet enough to try it out on my girls a few times. I don't about any of you, but I am just in awe over some of these pictures. Thanks, Miranda!

Lilly bug...

Mommy and Lexi...
Park time...Lilly is in the sunglasses.

Super Hero Twincesses...
Zoo Time...Lexi loves the little monkey. :)
Starting another phase of looking more alike??
I just can't get enough of these little girls! Good thing since we are leaving tomorrow for a girls trip to visit Amy in Oklahoma. Have fun in the quiet house, Eric. I know I will have plenty of pictures to share from the trip after we get back. :)

Early Spring...

2011-03-01T19:49:00.002-06:00

We are trying very hard to make Spring come early by wearing pretty little dresses and big pink sunglasses...

We'll have to wait and see what happens.