Merry Christmas!

Today Blake and I had lots of fun decorating Christmas cookies for Santa. It was a little stressful working on them when Emma was awake and doing her best to get into everything (by the way, Emma is 14 months old now and walking everywhere), but it was much easier after she went to bed. We are really excited for Christmas Eve tomorrow. Chris is off work for the next week and a half and we are really looking forward to all the fun and festivities ahead. Merry Christmas!!!

My Little Songbird

Blake loves to sing and does so all the time. She's even a very creative songwriter. I've never been particularly musical and always wished I was, so I should really be encouraging this passion of hers. She seems to be very good at memorizing lyrics and she certainly has a knack for projecting her voice so she's off to a good start. I'm still not so sure about whether or not she has a good voice, but that may be a little difficult to detect in a 4-year-old. Well whether or not a career as a singer is in her future, she has managed to be the star of the show in both of her preschool music performances the past two years. Last year, she cracked us up as the only voice that could be heard among the 2-year-olds at the spring concert and this year it was a repeat performance at the Christmas concert with the 3s, 4s and pre-K kids. She just gives it her all. Her teacher told me when I picked her up from school that day that I needed to get her in singing lessons as soon as possible because she carried the show. Since then several parents have told me that they enjoyed her "solo" at the concert. So we're very proud of Blake for her enthusiasm for singing and performing! Good job sweetie!!!

Poor Babies

Both the girls have been sick with an illness that started as a stomach bug and then turned into a ridiculous runny nose and coughing. It was Emma's first time to throw up last week and she was so sweet and cuddly and we felt so bad for her. Blake didn't get sick until a couple of days later and now they are both just covered in snot all day and are coughing up a storm. I can't stand to see my kids cough. I really can't stand hearing them coughing in the middle of the night. It's torture! How awful to be sick at Christmas too. It could be worse though so I'm just hoping we don't get it and they don't get worse.

Last weekend at a restaurant we noticed a crying baby and Blake said "That baby is really poor". I asked her if she meant like when someone says "poor baby" and she of course said, "yeah, that baby is really poor look how hard she's crying". So I thought that was really funny and tried to explain to her that "poor baby" was a figure of speech and saying it the other way meant something different. I'm not sure it sunk in though because since she's been coughing today I've said "poor baby" a couple of times and once she said "yeah, I really am poor today". I could see where she might be confused. The English language is full of some pretty funny expressions and kids just make them even funnier.

The Nutcracker and "Fancy Brunch"

My little ballerina Blake and I had the special joy this year of going to a performance of The Nutcracker with her Nana and her Ami. She's so lucky to have both grandmothers living so close by to do fun stuff like this whenever we want. I took ballet classes throughout elementary school and was in drill team in high school so I was just as excited to go to the performance as she was if not more. The Nutcracker is always a great ballet, but this performance was really, really great. It was the Texas Ballet Theater performing at Bass Hall in Fort Worth. It was magical and beautiful and we all had such a good time! One of my favorite parts of the whole thing was seeing all of the little girls dressed up for the occasion. Apparently I wasn't the only mom who had the idea that her 4-year-old was at about the right age to enjoy getting all fancy and going to the ballet at Christmastime. There were tons of little girls there and they all looked adorable. Blake really enjoyed wearing her fancy new clothes. I wrapped up a new dress, tights, gloves and coat for her with some nutcracker and ballet Christmas ornaments attached to the ribbon and put the packages out in front of her room for her to see and unwrap first thing when she got up that morning (she's really into getting herself all dressed from head-to-toe first thing when she wakes up in the morning right now, but that's another post entirely). We also went to brunch that day in Fort Worth at a place called Bistro Louise which was really great. We were celebrating Karen's birthday that day too so Chris, Emma and Danny joined us for brunch before the rest of us went on to the ballet. Even though the brunch place wasn't all that super fancy, Blake is pretty much convinced that brunch is a very fancy event because we were all dressed up for the ballet and just for the heck of making it a special day. Even Emma was pretty fancy in her dress and faux fur wrap that was one of my favorite hand-me-downs from Blake. So now many of Blake's pretend play scenarios include her and her imaginary prince or her and her imaginary kids or whatever the case may be getting dressed up to go to brunch. It cracks me up every time. What a special day! I hope we can make it a tradition and Emma can join us when she's old enough.

All Caught Up

Our Thanksgiving was really wonderful this year. We spent a couple of days out at Danny and Karen's house in Keller with Rachel (who was in from New York) and Uncle Randy and Aunt Anita (who we rarely get to see and were visiting from Kansas). It was so nice to spend our first holiday out in the new (finally finished) house! We feel like we were truly able to appreciate all the great things about the house. I love that it's on enough land that you really can't see any neighbors, I love the outdoor fireplace, I love all the trees in the fall and I love that even though the house has been redone you can still feel that it's old. We can't wait to spend Christmas out there too and it will be nice to have my mom there since she went to Austin on Thanksgiving (we missed you). Highlights of the holiday were: the girls wearing their matching monogrammed dresses I recently bought them at the Junior League of Plano Christmas market (and Emma wearing the super-cute diaper cover with the "E" on it); Blake making the place cards for everybody (with a little help on the spelling), decorating the table with leaves and using her hand to make a turkey decoration on the crust of the cherry pie (with Ami's help); my thirty minutes of quality time laying on the hammock with Blake cuddling and talking and enjoying the beautiful outdoors; eating and eating and eating some more; the Cowboys winning; knowing ahead of time that the Aggies were going to lose so it didn't really bother me when they did; Blake sleeping in a tent in Ami and Pappa's room; visiting with the Ficklins the day after Thanksgiving; shopping at Southlake Town Center the day after Thanksgiving with Karen and Rachel; eating at Uncle Julio's that night and all the grown-ups sitting in front of the fireplace on the porch that night visiting, having some drinks and listening to Christmas music. Lots of fun!!!

Catching Up

Well it's been a month and I have a lot of catching up to do. Here we go...

Revisiting Halloween

Oh how we celebrated Halloween this year... many, many times and many, many places! Here are some highlights.

First up, we have Fall Fair at church





























Next we have Trunk or Treat at church sponsored by my Mom's group. I love the picture of Blake with the smaller little girls (Claire and Sadie) who thought she was so beautiful as a ballerina princess.

























Here is Blake admiring herself in the mirror the first time she got all dressed up in her costume with the make-up and everything. She had so much fun with it, but we created a monster over that week of her getting into costume so many times. She is now more obsessed than ever with wearing a dress every day and asking me constantly if she can wear my make-up.
















Blake's school party (it was also pajama day)














These are from Boo at the Zoo at the Ft. Worth Zoo. We went with Ami and Pappa and had lots of fun. The pumpkin carvings of the animals are so cool.








































Finally, actual Halloween day. Blake enjoyed passing out candy more than anything else and as you can see from the picture of her holding her nose, she didn't enjoy the smell of the pumpkin being carved. We think Emma enjoyed Halloween, but mostly I think she just wondered why we kept dressing her up like a dog all week.






































































Even Paris had a costume. Here she is as a princess.













So that's that. Whew!

So then came my 31st birthday November 9th and our trip to Las Vegas. It was AWESOME!!! I love Vegas every time. We stayed at The Venetian the first night and it was so nice. We stayed at Planet Hollywood the next two nights and it was okay too, but no Venetian. I did have a pretty great time there in The Pleasure Pit (a group of blackjack tables where the dealers are all girls in lingerie). They may be catering to men at those tables, but I sure did get lucky there. Chris was pretty lucky on our trip too and won us some tickets to see the show "Stomp Out Loud" which was really great. What a fun trip and as always I can't wait to go back (Jeremy and Tammine we need our Vegas buddies next time so be prepared).


My birthday celebration before we left for Vegas. Blake picked out the cake, candles and my hat. I may be 31, but with a 4-year-old around I can still celebrate like a kid.
























Me enjoying our room at the Venetian. All the rooms there are suites and they have a really cool living room area. Plus, all the rooms have 3 tvs (including one in the beautiful bathroom) and remote controlled window shades. Awesome!!!













A couple of cute pics of Emma bundled up for the first really cold day of the season (she loves her soft jacket) and waking up from a nap. What a cutie!!!





























That's about all the catching up I can do for now. I'll save Thanksgiving for tomorrow. I'm ready to move on to Christmas... my favorite time of the year and such a fun time to have little kids.

Number 1 and Number 2

I'm so proud of Emma this morning. She went number 2 on the potty this morning for the first time and Saturday she peed on the potty for the first time. I started putting her on the potty every once in while last week and it only took 4 times before we had a successful event to cheer about. I sorta think it makes since to at least introduce babies to early potty training when the right moments come along. I started Blake at about 10 months and Emma last week at 12 months. I certainly don't worry about consistency, but if I notice a dry diaper after nap time or I see her looking like she's trying to poop and I have an opportunity to get her to the potty I'm going to take it. I also like to put her on there before bath time. So hooray for Emma! We had a great time cheering her on and Mommy, Daddy and Blake are very proud of her! It's pretty silly how exhilarating and exciting this stuff can be for a Mom. Who knew somebody peeing and pooping on a potty could make my day? Motherhood cracks me up sometimes.

A Beautiful Autumn Day at the Arboretum

The girls and I went to the pumpkin patch and Halloween activities at the Dallas Arboretum yesterday with our friends Katherine and Ethan. We had a wonderful time on a chilly fall day. Blake and I seem to disagree on how wonderful the cool autumn days are. Every time I say "Oh, I love it when it gets cool. Isn't fall great?" she says "No I think I like summer". I may be crazy, but I love the cooler weather. The girls had a great time and even put their costumes on at the end (I'll post pictures of them in their costumes later). Blake couldn't wait to get her face painted. She loved her princess face paint and kept asking me the rest of the day if it was still on.













Emma liked trying to stack her "baby" pumpkin we found for her.































The other pictures are of the girls yesterday morning sitting on the couch watching TV together. I just thought it was so cute how they were cuddling under the blanket together. I'm so happy to watch these sweet little sister moments.

Happy 1st Birthday Emma!

Today my baby turned 1. Sweet, happy Emma has brought so much joy to our family this year and so much more love to my life. What they say about mothers having plenty of love to go around for their children is so true. Emma just is love. She's so kissable, huggable, happy and sweet she makes everyone (even strangers) fall in love with her. I can't imagine our lives without her and I can't help but try and imagine what it will be like when she gets a little older and starts talking and really showing her own unique personality even more. Today she wore her Baby's 1st birthday onesie and socks with her pink tutu and birthday crown. We celebrated with lunch with Ami and Nana and dinner with Nana again at Benihana's. Emma (and Blake) seemed to enjoy the food preparation and Emma really enjoyed the food. Emma also rode for the first time in the car with her seat forward which seemed to really surprise her and she has had her first cups of regular milk. What a big day and fabulous way to end one wonderful year and start another. We will also be having a small party on Sunday for some more family to help us celebrate. At age one Emma is able to: crawl, cruise and stand on her own for a about a minute; she says dada, mama, hi (sort of) and her favorite sound to make right now is blah-blah-blah; she can clap, wave and sort of blow kisses; she lights up for her sister; she sleeps like a champ; she loves any food we give her and eats a lot; she gets startled easily and is scared to death of Tickle Me Elmo; she loves her blankie, baby dolls, music and opening and closing drawers and cabinets; she loves to hang upside down; she loves to pull all of her hairbows out and she puts everything in her mouth; and at age one Emma melts my heart and brings a smile to my face about a million times a day. Oh Emma, Mommy loves you so so much!!!

Deja-vu? and a Kiss Too

The pictures of the girls in the dress made me think of a couple of other pictures I've taken recently of the girls doing similar things at similar ages. I'm hoping to do my best about not making comparisons of Blake and Emma as they grow up so I won't make these photo comparisons a regular occurrence. However, it is kinda fun to take pictures of the second one doing things the first one did. I liked Aubrey's photos of Joshua and Andrew each eating an Oreo on a recent blog post. These two pictures of Blake were some of my favorites so I had to get Emma in similar poses. The last picture is Emma blowing a kiss. She just started doing it last week. It's so cute! She puts her hand to her mouth, but then she just leaves it there kinda blowing behind her hand. She hasn't quite gotten the blowing the kiss away part down. She's so sweet about kisses though. She goes around giving sweet little half-open-mouthed kisses to all the stuffed animals and dolls around the house all the time. She's also pretty willing to give out kisses to Mommy and other family members too. What a sweetie!

Emma's picture is first and Blake's is second in the towel and in the Aggie cheerleading outfit in the stroller. The picture of Blake in the doggie towel has to be one of my favorite pictures I have ever taken of her.

Great-great-grandmother's Dress

I finally took some pictures of Emma in this dress that was made by the girl's Great-great-grandmother. My Mother-in-law wore it when she was a baby too. I just think that is so cool and the dress is really beautiful. We took pictures of Blake in the dress when she was about Emma's age or a month or so younger. As you can tell Blake liked the whole photography session a little better than Emma. Poor Emma just did not want to be barefoot in the grass or dirt and certainly didn't want to touch the tree. I'm thinking she's not going to be the outdoorsy type. She really just hasn't been cooperating when it comes to picture-taking much at all lately, but I'm hoping she'll come back around soon. I felt kinda bad torturing her for these pictures, but I really wanted to continue the tradition. The first picture is of Blake and the other three are Emma (in case it isn't obvious).