Easter and the Arboretum

Easter Sunday with my Mom's family in Dawson. The girls had so much fun hunting Easter eggs with all of their cousins...

We went to the Arboretum a couple week ago. If you can't tell, Finley was obsessed with this outfit and she insists Ellis matches. It was a beautiful day and Fin and Ellis had a great time. We really need to use our membership more often...

Glory Days

Don't laugh! Okay, so a couple months ago, Brandon received a phone call from his good friend Chad telling him that his high school was organizing a alumni football game, not flag, but full pads, full contact. Well, Brandon was so excited. The next month was spent attending practices on weekends and getting ready for the big game. It ended up being a fun experience for him, but I think he has checked it off his list and probably won't do it again. Check out my hubby reliving the "Glory Days"!

Birthdays

I am so behind on blogging and feel like such a bad mom. We have been so busy the last few months, the end of school is always so crazy busy, and I think I have just been lazy about keeping up. Here is what we have been u[p to. We had two birthdays, Finley's turned three in February and we celebrated Ellis' first birthday in March. Unfortunately, my camera was acting up on Ellis' birthday so I don't have great pictures, but my sister does and I promise I will get them soon. We had Finley's party at ASI in Lake Highlands and it was so much fun and super easy! Luckily, a friend at work wanted to share the birthday party. Her daughter's birthday was so close and we would be inviting all the same friends from school anyway, so it was perfect and cost effective! ASI was wonderful and would highly recommend it to anyone! All the kids had a blast!

A friend of mine with two little girls warned me when I was pregnant with Finley. She said, "Little girls get stars in their eyes for Daddy when they turn one." This happened a little with Finley, but it is definitely true with Ellis. She is so into Daddy its ridiculous. If its just me, she loves me and we play and have so much fun, but if Brandon's in the room, she won't have anything to do with me. Brandon used to to worry when Ellis was really little because he traveled so much. He kept saying, "She doens't even know who I am". Well, she does now! He loves it!

There are great pictures of Ellis destroying her birthday cake. Will post soon!

Back to the Beach

I'm so excited, we just booked a trip to Gulf Shores in July. We are going to back to the same place we went two years ago. It seems like just yesterday when we were there. This time we will have an additional traveler, we had just found out Ellis was on the way right before our trip in 2009. This summer, she will get to join in the fun with Finley and Braden.

More Snow!

Finley and I ventured out this morning to check out the snow. It was hard to get her to come back inside!

FYI, the naked baby you see in all of the pictures is Finley's "Girl Baby". Girl Baby goes everywhere with us, even to school, although she has to stay in Finley's cubby until nap time. Every once in a while, Ellis will see Girl Baby on the floor and pick her up and take off with her with the most mischievous grin on her face because she knows it will get a rise out of Finley. Finley usually doesn't like to share Girl Baby, but sometimes she will "allow" Ellis to play with her! Last year, Finley was weirdly attached to her Little People Goat, this year its Girl Baby!

Bad Hair Days

Poor Ellis, every morning, she wakes up with hair like this!

Snow Days

We have been home with the girls since Tuesday like most everyone else in North Texas. It has been a nice break, but quite challenging to come up with entertainment. Luckily, since Brandon works at a University, he has been home all week too, so I haven't had to entertain the girls all by myself.

After Christmas, we didn't have room for all of the girls' presents, so we stuck everything in an extra bedroom downstairs. Brandon calls this room the "Treasure Room" and it has come in quite handy this week. When boredom sets in, we go to the "Treasure Room" to find a new toy! The "Treasure Room" is now empty!

"The Treasure Room" on Tuesday...

Playing dress-up...

Ellis wants to do everything that Finley does...





During the holiday break, we decided to do some re-arranging. Our house was built in the 1930's and we love it, but the layout is not really set up for a modern family. Our dinning room is in the center of the house and before, it was just a room we walked through to get from our living room to our kitchen. We decided to make it room we use and turned it into a partial play room and it has been great! We folded the table up and pushed it to the side and brought in the toys. I can see the girls from the kitchen and the living room and Finley's play kitchen fits perfectly in the little nook under the stairs. I'm not sure why we didn't do this sooner.