Spring Break

Yes, I am this far behind on the blog!!!  We have a had a really busy few months!

We went to Rockport with our good friends, The Leedys for Spring Break.  We all had way too much fun!  Both of their children are each about a year younger than Olivia and Eliza and play really well together.  The Leedys are moving to Singapore at the end of May and we will miss them so!

 Trying on Mama's giant hat!  Eliza is allergic to regular baby sunscreen on her face.  The two types of sunscreen that don't cause her to break out are the thickest, most pasty sunscreen ever.  Mike put it on her had it pasted all over her face a scalp the entire weekend.  I washed her hair 8 times every bath and it just stuck!

 Keeping the littles in the stroller as long as they could stand it, to keep them out of the water and shells!

 The girls loved the shell beach and found so many treasures.

 We finally let them out to get into trouble!

Checking out what the big girls were up to

 We took Pong Pong's pontoon boat out for Eliza's first boat ride

 Ross and Sophie

 Carrie and Charles

 Helping Daddy drive the boat

The girls!

 Mike and Ross bought several pounds of fresh oysters to try and re-create the char-grilled oysters we had at ACME in NOLA

 They were DELICIOUS and just like the ACME ones

Deliciousness on a plate!

More Rodeo Fun

We hit the rodeo one last time and actually went to the livestock show this time.  Lots of the little boys were offering pictures with their pigs for a couple dollars.  Olivia really wanted to get in there with this one :)

 

 Sitting ON this poor sleeping pig!

Fun rides!

Rocket Ship

Olivia brought this home the other day.  Really really hard not to laugh out loud.  She was so proud of her "rocket ship" ;)

Markers

So, markers are put up on a high shelf in our house for now.  At least she isn't biting the tips of the markers off anymore.  I was sitting RIGHT THERE when this happened, by the way!

Ready for Summer!

I know two little girls who can't wait for the pool to be warm enough to swim. Eliza now frequently requests, "toes, pool" :)

Soon after these pictures were taken, Eliza's dress was getting really wet and so we took it off.  A few days later while dipping their toes, both girls began getting completely naked and actually got in the pool!  It was only 69 degrees!  They both said it wasn't cold, but their legs were so pink from the cold water.

Happy 10 Years!!

UNBELIEVABLE!!!  We have been married for ten years?!?!  It has truly been the very best years of my life and I could not be more blissful about the life and family we have created together.  My greatest love, my best friend, so glad we found each other all those years ago.  We had considered going to Europe to celebrate, but for many reasons, including my apprehension about being so far away from my girls, we decided to go to NOLA.  We had THE BEST TIME and loved every minute.  We did nothing but casually enjoy the city and all of the delicious food it has to offer.  I can't wait to go back!

Enjoying a late dinner at R'evolution our first night.  We both have never felt so full in our lives!  It was sure delicious though.  Just our appetizers were "Death by Gumbo" and three giant crab beignets.  I was completely full before my entree even came.

Our hotel had the most beautiful courtyard.  The luxury of not traveling with children--being able to just sit and enjoy the surroundings.

We went to Cafe Du Monde twice on our trip. So worth the wait.

Jackson Square

We were just casually strolling around the French Quarter when the St. Patrick's Day "practice parade" came through.  Mike and I were just standing there arm in arm watching the chaos when this guy thought we were posing for a picture and tried to photo bomb us.  He then realized we were just standing there.  Then he decided he and I needed this photo together...only in NOLA!  He did end up taking the only picture of Mike and me from the trip though:

 The night of our anniversary, we ate at Galatoires, my favorite meal of the trip.  It is like going into times past eating there.  It was so neat and so delicious.  Sadly, I didn't take any pictures.

After brunch at Brennan's Saturday morning, we walked out and happened upon some street performers.  They were looking for various people to participate.  Mike got chosen as the "rich white guy"!  That is what he gets for wearing a sports coat to brunch!

The finale of the performance was this guy running and flipping mid air over the entire group they had gathered.

Get ready to LAUGH:

The Real Rodeo

We took the girls to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo with Ducky and Pong Pong.  They have been volunteering for the Rodeo for as long as I can remember and they were thrilled to finally take the girls.

They had a blast at "Fun on the Farm"

Playing in corn! 

We found corn in Olivia's boots for days!

Milking a "cow"!

You go around from station to station "planting" seeds, "milking cows", "feeding chickens", etc.  At the end, you take all of your hard work to the farmers marker and they give you "money" to buy a treat.  It was so cool and so much fun!

Next we hit the Midway

Another pony ride!

We finally made it up to the box with all of Mike's coworkers and the girls were both enamored with the live music.  It was hands down the worst live music I have ever seen, but they couldn't look away!

Their first concert!

Rodeo Day!

Olivia's school had Rodeo Day a couple weeks ago.  It started with a parade of all of the classes.

Olivia's class were the "Rodeo Rangers"

So proud of her Texas flag!

Olivia's class

Face painting

Pony rides!

Armadillos!

The armadillos look thrilled to be stuck in a box with a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds :)

Her friend, Madison

 Olivia as "Jesse"!

 Train rides!

Mama and her cowgirl!  What a super fun day!  So glad I was there with my big girl.

Children's Party

I started volunteering for an amazing organization called VICTORY this year.  It raises huge amounts of money for the American Cancer Society through two annual events, The Cattle Baron's Ball and the Holiday Shopping Card.  Additionally, VICTORY hosts a party at the Children's Museum for children on the oncology ward in the Houston area.  The museum is thoroughly cleaned beforehand and is closed to the public for a couple hours for the big party.  They have free reign of the entire museum with tons of activities, clowns, face painters, food, ice cream and more.  My committee assignment for this year was an art activity for the children to do at the party.  A professional artist, Edgar Medina, came to create a painting with the children, to later be sold at the ball auction in April.  I had such an fabulous time helping out and spending time with some amazing kiddos.  Here is the painting almost complete:

Babies, Blankets, and Maya!?

Poor Maya dog.  The girls' latest obsession is filling the dog kennel (with Maya in it!) with babies, blankets and themselves.  Hopefully dog protective services is not going to come and knock on our door.  This video is kind of long, but funny :)




Eliza is sad here because A) it is nap time and B) Maya hit the road: