A Very Merry Christmas!

Hard to believe Christmas has already come and gone, but Claire and Kate had a really great time and opened more presents than should even be allowed. Between Granna and Grandad, Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Greg, and Uncle Howard... they made Santa look like a slouch! We are so blessed to have wonderful family and friends who all do so much for our girls!

Ready for church on Christmas Eve

Family pic

Kate loved the bows!

Baking cookies for Santa

Opening Santa presents on Christmas morning

Claire "needed" Barbies... and she got plenty!

"If you think I'm cute, you should see my Uncle" (from Uncle Howard) :)

Claire was really proud of her presents!

Mommy's favorite present this year!

Christmas Day 6:15 p.m... and yes, that's a leopard swimsuit under that sweater!

Happy Holidays!

Our holiday season is off to a great start! Thought I'd take a minute to share a few pictures of the girls getting into the Christmas spirit!

The girls loved Santa this year!

Claire at her preschool Christmas party

After her "Rudolph" dance at ballet

We had a great visit with Aunt Sarah & Uncle Bryan and Grandma Mimi

All smiles in her new highchair!

Kate's first biter biscuit - BEFORE

Kate's first biter biscuit - AFTER :)

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

I guess it really is like they say... time flies when you're having fun! My last blog posting was Nov. 8 and it really just seems like yesterday. A lot has been going on in the past month (as I'm sure it has for everyone). Bridal showers, a quick trip to Aunt Sarah & Uncle Bryan's house in Dallas for Thanksgiving, a bachelorette party, and getting ready for Christmas and Lindsey's wedding! Kate is now 6 months old and sitting up by herself like a big girl. I think she enjoys being able to sit and be eye-to-eye (almost) with her sister! Claire has been playing "wedding" quite a bit lately, so I think she's getting pretty excited about the big event. She's doing her best to stay on the "good list" these days, so we'll see if Santa agrees come next week! :)

My ballerina after her "Turkey Wobble" dance


The girls playing together on a lazy day at home


Kate sitting all by herself!


All dressed and ready for church... and Christmas!

Little Girls

No matter what we do these days, it seems like we always end up with a house full of little girls! We are blessed that so many of our friends have little ones like we do and that Claire and Kate always have plenty of playmates. Tonight, our friends Goran and Victoria stopped by on their way back into Houston from Dallas and the kids had a great time playing. They have two girls as well... Sasha is 3 and Mila is almost 2. They were dressed like princesses, playing with Barbies, and watching Cinderella! And you could tell that poor little Kate wanted so badly to be right there in the mix!

Sasha & Claire (A.K.A. Cinderella & Belle)


Mila


Kate with Mr. Goran


The girls


My big girl sitting up on her own... she's doing pretty well!

Beauty and the Bee

The girls had a great time on Halloween! Claire was dressed as Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) and Kate was a bumblebee. We did a little trick-or-treating and stopped off by Granna's house to have dinner with Granna, Aunt Lindsey, and Uncle Greg. I think Claire had more fun opening the door for the trick-or-treaters and checking out their costumes than she did trick-or-treating herself!

Here are a few pictures of Beauty and the Bee!








Belle and Minnie (Emily)

The Bee and Tinkerbell (Alexandra)

Fall is Here!

Fall is finally here and we're enjoying both the cooler weather and all of the fun festivities that this time of year brings! Last week while Uncle Howard was still in town, we took the girls to the pumpkin patch at the 7 Acre Wood in Conroe. Claire had a lot of fun and got to ride a pony for the first time! Since then, she's hit two Halloween carnivals, a playgroup Halloween party, has a costume parade coming up at school on Friday, and then the Halloween "grand finale" on Saturday. In between all of that, she's had a birthday party and Granna & Grandad took her to Kemah. Not bad for a week! Needless to say, Miss Claire has a busy social schedule!

Here are a few pictures from the week...

Pumpkin Patch










On the boardwalk in Kemah

Another Fun Weekend!

October has been a busy month and this weekend was definitely no different. It was a special one though, with a visit from Uncle Howard, Emily's birthday party, and plenty of time with the family! We always look forward to Uncle Howard's visits, so we were excited to hear that he was missing "his girls" and was able to sneak in a visit this month. Claire LOVES spending time with "Unchie Howard" (because he'll do about anything she asks!) and even Kate, the sensitive Momma's girl, went right to him!

Kate has had a big month as well. The 4 month mark has brought lots of new exciting things... she's started eating cereal and baby food (and we haven't found anything she doesn't like), she's rolling all over the place, and she likes playing in her new exersaucer. At her 4 month checkup, she weighted 13 lbs. 13 oz. (50-75%) and was 25 1/2 inches (90%). Claire was 13 lbs. 3 oz. and 25 3/4 inches at the same age... so Kate's still following in her sister's footsteps. Just to look at her, you'd think Kate was much bigger though because of those cheeks! We've decided they're an optical illusion!

Claire was first in line to have her face painted

The finished product!

Butterfly princess!

My girls!

Uncle Howard and Claire

Kate and Uncle Howard

Love those chubby cheeks!