Lily's 3rd Birthday Party

Lily's Birthday party was a blast! We had a few friends over for jingle-bell necklaces, making reindeer headbands, snacks, juice boxes, Grimaldi's pizza, Birthday cake, and...... here it goes..... SANTA!!!!
Yes, this year Santa was a hit! Last year Lily wanted no part in Santa, but this year she was excited to see him. She even held him by the hand and walked him inside after he arrived on the mule. Everyone took turns sitting on Santa's lap and telling him what they want for Christmas. And, in return, Santa handed out party favors from his big, red, Santa toy bag.
After Santa's visit we feasted on our FAVORITE cake from Panini's bakery in Dallas. Oh my gosh, the "white chocolate, raspberry filled" cake that we always order from Panini's is soooooo yummy!!!! They decorated the cake exactly like the napkins & plates we used for Lily's party. It was decorated so cute, too!
After cake, Lily opened her Birthday gifts. She received some really great presents and the kids had fun playing with them.
I'm always so thankful our friends & family take a few hours out of their Saturday, in December, right before Christmas, to celebrate Lily's birthday.
I'm, also, thankful we are able to give to the "Marine Corps Toys for Tots".
I always want my girls to know it's fun to receive, but it's awesome to give.
Thank you to our friends & family for such a FUN, SPECIAL, CRAZY, LOUD, MEMORABLE
3rd Birthday party for Lily.

Feeding donkeys!

The day after Thanksgiving we met some friends out at their ranch to eat leftovers, let the kids play, have a little adult conversation, and feed donkeys!!!
It was a very cold day so we layered up, rode out to the pasture on the Kawasaki Mule, with a bucket of apples in the back, and treated the donkeys to an after-Thanksgiving Day treat.
I've fed our longhorn out of my hand, but this was my first experience feeding a donkey out of my hand and I have to say I was a little weirded out by it. The donkeys literally grab the whole apple out of your hand by their teeth and in one CHOMP the apple is in pieces. I was totally afraid the donkey would miss the apple and go for a hand, but the donkeys had good aim and everyone came home with all their fingers and hands.
Thank goodness :)

Morgan's walking!.....

And has been for several months, but I never posted her milestone.
This is what happened...The husband went out of town for a long weekend so the girls & I had our friends Ashley & Kendall over for a couple of nights. Lily & Kendall, at the time, played, ran, colored, and climbed all over the place, where as, Morgan was only able to crawl or walk by holding on to something near by. Well, needless to say, I guess Morgan was tired of watching Lily & Kendall have all the fun so the very next day she let go of everything & began walking!
It seems she turned into a toddler overnight. No more "baby" stuff like riding on my hip all day long or whining until I figure out what she wants. Now she lets me know exactly what she wants! If she wants her shoes she says, "shoes!" and brings them to me so I can help her put them on, if she wants a cheese stick or fruit snacks she opens up the fridge or walks into the pantry, grabs her snack of choice, brings it to me so I can open it up for her, if she wants her "bebe" (pacifier) she says "bebe", and if she wants her sippy cup she says, "memma" (lemonade). She follows one step directions like throwing away trash, picking up toys, or handing me something I need.
She, also, has suprised me and is putting two words together.. Like "night, night daddy", "bye-bye daddy", "where's sissy?", "no momma", "you okay?", and "bye-bye ken-kal, (our friend Kendall)"
Morgan is such a sweetie and growing up so fast!

One day of Thanks

Thanksgiving dinner was held at our house this year. Our family came over in the late afternoon and we ate about 6pm. We had a very good time. Lots of yummy food, wine & desserts. Lily & Morgan's cousin Chace was in town so they had a blast before and after dinner running around the house and playing in the playroom.
Frank & I are very thankful everyday for our many blessings, but this "special" day of thanks is very important and so memorable for us.
Some pics of the day...

Happy Halloween!

Because we live out in the country and have only a couple of neighbors, every Halloween we go to our friends house in town to "trick or treat" in their neighborhood. This year Lily very much understood "trick or treating". Last year she new to walk up to houses, ring the door bell and greet the homeowner, but this year she new she was to receive candy at each house. She was very proud of all the candy she had accumulated in her "Shrek head" Halloween container. Sweet Miss Morgan, on the other hand, had no worries at all. She just cruised around in a wagon pulled by daddy Frank, picking up and eating random pieces of candy that landed on the bottom of the wagon.
Morgan was dressed up as "Puss in Boots"
Lily was dressed up as "Dronkey" both from "Shrek 4"
They were cute little characters, if I do say so myself :)

Happy Fall Y'all!!!

I can't believe I've taken so long to update my blog...especially because I loooove this time of year. I enjoy the weather, fall colors, falling leaves from trees, being able to take the girls outside without it being soooo hot, decorating with pumkins, crazy squash, bales of hay, spider webs & spiders, Halloween costumes for the girls, and knowing that Thanksgiving, Lily's Birthday & Christmas celebrations are just around the corner.
The girls and I just got back from Oklahoma. We had a fun time. It seemed as if we didn't stop for one minute. We were constantly going and the girls had sooooo much fun playing all of their cousins. Although we've made some really fabulous buddies here in Texas, it's very special & memorable to watch my girls play with all of their MANY cousins in Oklahoma. We were there for a week, but it still wasn't enough time to visit everyone I wanted to see. I made a few drop-in visits. Which I feel is just not fair to those family and friends I dropped in to see, but really wanted to hang out or have lunch with.
So, I remember making this same complaint last year. I guess to resolve this issue I need to visit my home town more often than once a year or stay a month next October!
Before the girls & I went to Oklahoma we visited a couple of Fun Fall places. A Pumpkin Patch not far from our house and the Dallas Arboretum, which I loooovvvveee!
Above are a few of my favorite pics from those places!
Happy Fall Y'all!!!
(i totally stole that saying from one of my facebook friends! it was too cute so i had to use it!)

SCCHHHOOOOLLLLL!!!

I'm about two weeks late in posting this, but Miss Lily started Pre-School! She attends school twice a week from 9am to 2pm. On the first day, I walked Lily to her "ladybug" classroom where all of the kids were making pretend pizza with Play-Do. She sat right down and joined in. I wanted to take pictures so bad, but I was afraid if I lingered too long she might decide, "something is going on and I'm not staying here!" So I took only a couple of pics and walked out. At this point I'm thinking, "wow, I can't believe this was that easy!" During school Lily had a very good time. She gets a mini-report card everyday giving me details of how her day went. On the first day she was chatty, friendly, busy, cooperative, curious, happy &.....teary! Okay, so the first 6 descriptive words are fabulous, but the last word is, well.... SAD. So this is what happened... Nap time rolled around and instead of napping Lily took the princess clip out of her hair and started playing with it. One of her teachers took it away and this BROKE Lily's heart. She immediately started crying and wanting her mommy! The director came in to hold & comfort Lily and, finally, she calmed down then fell asleep. After nap time, the kids play for a bit until it's parent pick up time. When I arrived to pick up Lily she was all smiles. That evening before bed I asked Lily if she had fun at school and she said, "yes!" I asked her her favorite part about school and she said, "apple juice!" Even though she had a tough go of it at nap time I still feel she enjoyed herself very much :)
So the second day came, this is when the husband & I thought Lily would oppose. Lily, Morgan & I pull into the parking lot of the school and Lily said, "No, Momma!"
I said, "Lily this is your school, remember? I packed your lunch and you have a juice box?!" She said, "Oh yea, okay, Mommy"
Morgan & I walked Lily to her classroom, she walked in and over to the pizza making play-do table & started playing. I just stood there for a few seconds dumbfounded. I totally expected her to throw a fit because, at this point, she now knows I'm leaving her all day. So she's totally fine with school!
"Okay, wow, it's time to go" I say to myself. Miss Lily is growing up!



Editor's note: I just now re-read this post...I totally miss-spelled several words...I guess I'm the one that needs to go back to school!
Or learn to use my "spell check"!!!

WP,CO

Since my last post we've enjoyed many happenings. We went on a long weekend getaway to Winter Park for Labor Day. We had some landscaping done since the last time we were there in July, so we wanted to go back and view the finished product. We are thrilled with our new back yard. Its totally different. What used to be an almost minor landslide is now an awesome rock/boulder retaining wall with Aspen trees and a variety of other newly planted trees & bushes. We, again, enjoyed ourselves very much. I totally ruined the nutrition plan I had been following, but eating bad is what you do on vacation, right? The husband & I loved having coffee outside before the girls woke up, taking the girls on our daily walk around the neighborhood, swimming at the rec center, traveling to Grand Lake & listening to live music while having a picnic & shopping the cute stores along the boardwalk. The girls got matching Moccasins to represent their American Indian heritage. The weather was perfect. I was expecting it to be a little bit cooler than it was so with the warmer temps and no humidity I was in heaven. One morning, though, we woke up and it was verrrry chillllly...19 degrees, ouch! It warmed up quickly once the sun came out. Thank goodness!
We have such a nice time in WP. No schedules, no errands, no rush just good ole family time. Okay, so I'm counting down the days till we return.
I almost forgot.... We had a visitor every night, Mr. Fox. The last night Frank & I were feasting on pizza out on the back deck when all of a sudden Mr.Fox jumped up to join us! It scared me...I heard the "landing thump" noise and my first thought was BEAR! I let out a little scream then realized it was Mr. Fox so I relaxed a little bit. I guess he sniffed out of pizza and wanted a piece of his own!
I, also, have to thank Frank's parents for baby sitting for a couple of hours one day. Frank and I put the girls down for a nap then went to Devil's Thumb Ranch (were he proposed!) for a spa afternoon. We both enjoyed wonderful massages then relaxed in steam rooms. Thanks Nana & Papa for our afternoon away!