Zooday

We go to the zoo so often with friends that I rarely bring my camera. If I’m being truly honest, I brought it on this particular zooday because the girls had new dresses (compliments of Mimi) and I thought they looked really cute in them.

L to R: Brooke, Erin(with Wayne), Henry, Oliver, Frederick, Alice, Norah We were very excited to catch both Kolas awake and active! This one looked right at me and winked – I swear!! Alice, Frederick, Norah and Henry We spent a long time in the Children’s area of the zoo and played on the playground and petted the goats. It warmed up by late morning – definitely one of the nicest days we had in January. We truly walked all over the zoo – from the Koalas to the Wilds of Africa where this Jeep is!

Grandpa Dean visits Dallas / Big News

Just before Thanksgiving I found out I was pregnant (due July 24th). I had been feeling sick for about a week but I thought it was because I was stressed about a talk I was giving for the Management Society. When that came and went and I still felt sick I thought I might be stressed about Thanksgiving and Alice’s birthday – and also stressed about that the fact that I was so stressed it was causing nausea. I mentioned it to a friend who joked that I was probably just pregnant. That quip spooked me enough to take a test and I was very surprised and excited to find out that I was in fact expecting. My morning sickness has been more severe this time around and when I complained to my parents my dad offered to come out for a week to help (my mom couldn’t come because of a scheduled scan). It was a huge help to have him here and just knowing help was coming made me feel a bit better. He made the kids and me breakfast everyday and cleaned the house and really just did everything. He allowed Bryan to concentrate on work during a busy time without feeling like he was neglecting us and kept the kids out and about.

While he was here we took the girls to see Santa at the mall. Their cute smocked candy cane dresses were made by our old neighbor Paula. I really wanted to get a good picture of them to give Paula but Alice wanted nothing to do with Santa. Santa offered her a cookie and she crept over to get it but pretty much as soon as she had it she walked away. Oh well, the photographer got a good one of Norah which is hard enough as it is. Grandpa Dean got to witness Norah’s obsession with Christmas carols. We spent a lot of time listening to the Pandora Christmas station and Norah singing along. She’s learned most of the words to most Christmas carols.We also went to the Children’s garden a few times When my dad left on Dec.17th I only had to get through a week before Bryan was off for Christmas. His visit really broke up the weeks of feeling sick and made it seem more manageable. Thanks for all the help Dad!

Garden Cafe

We met up with some friends for a delicious lunch at the Garden Cafe in Lakewood. It was a breezy, but sunny and warm winter day and I’m glad we took the opportunity to be outside. We didn’t as many nice days in January as we did last year.Benjamin and Norah played at the park across the street together before and after lunch

Christmas in Denver

We had a great time in Denver. We only ate in the dining room and let the breakfast nook be a perma-craft table. The girls made Christmas ornaments, they water colored, played with play dough  . . . they spent a lot of time at the craft table. One of Norah’s favorite presents was a big box of crafts from her grandparents. They worked on those crafts all week.The three girls also enjoyed taking nightly baths in the big master bath tub. The bath toy selection was fantastic. Norah and Evelyn left out goodies for Santa and his Reindeer Santa left Norah a Space Shuttle and an astronaut costume. She had asked for a space shuttle “with an American flag” but the costume was a bonus. Alice got a play-doh set from Santa.The next day we went to the museum of Nature and Science and saw the Space Odyssey exhibit which was very hands on And the Mummy exhibit – the whole reason we went was for the mummies actually. Norah has been asking us questions about mummies since mid October. She saw a cartoon with a mummy walking around and no matter how many times we tried to explain this was just not so she just wasn’t buying it. I’m happy to report that her trip to the museum seems to have satisfied her for now. We haven’t had a mummy question since. The biggest highlight of the trip was finally meeting Andrew, or as I taught Alice to say “Baby Drew.” He is truly the smiliest baby I have ever met. I thought Alice was extremely smiley and strangers would even comment on her smiles but Andrew is the king of smiles. He has a beautiful wide grin and one only needs to makes eye contact with Baby Drew to get one. Louis is still adorable and incredibly fluent in English but as this picture suggests, we were all a little star struck with the new grandkid. IT was also nice to see Ashley and Matt’s new house.We also went to the Denver Zoo which is just amazing. They have every animal you ever wanted to see at a zoo. Rhinos, Hippos, Polar Bears . . . everythingYou can see Alice, Bryan, Norah and Matt and Louis on the Carousel  The Denver Children’s museum was wonderful – they had a real fire truck to play on/in!Also – we had perfect weather. The sky was so clear and blue I couldn’t stop talking about it. It was warm enough to walk to the playground almost every day yet conveniently we had one super cold day with snow to play in. We were worried Norah was going to complain when we got back to Dallas and she remembered that we’d told her she’d get to play in the snow. She also went Ice skating but those pics are on Bryans phone.

Christmas Eve Eve

Since we were flying to Denver for Christmas we had a practice run of Christmas morning before we left and opened presents from Bryan’s parents. Bryan’s mom once told me “I like to get people what they want to get for Christmas AND what I want to get them for Christmas” and it is very true. We always get just what we asked for plus some very thoughtful surprises. I’m amazed at how often what Susan wants us to want turns out to be what really wanted most of all and just didn’t even know it! This year I think Susan deserves an award for sending Alice a cowgirl hat and Norah a pair of cowgirl boots. While she was in town for Thanksgiving she witnessed the girls fighting over Norah’s cowgirl hat and Norah bemoaning that her cowgirl boots now fit Alice instead of her. It never occurred to me to ask for another hat and set of boots but they were just what we needed. In this picture Norah is trying out her new leotard and ballet slippers while Alice tries out her new scooter. Norah showcasing her new outfit and boots I think I caught Alice mid sneeze in her cute (homemade by Susan) Red Riding hood cape

Thanksgiving

Bryan’s parents and Greg and Taylor visited for Thanksgiving. It was great having them here and we did a lot of fun things together.

Taylor read lots of books to Norah We went to the JFK museum – here we are on the grassy knoll We also went to see Bryan’s building And then we crossed the street to go see the Neiman Marcus holiday tunnel and window displays. The girls went through the tunnel 3 times each I think. Grandpa Guy and Mimi took Norah and Alice to see Frozen – it was Alice’s first time at a movie theater and only Norah’s second. They loved it. The next day we went to the Dallas Zoo. Notice Norah is wearing her cowgirl hat. We also went to the arboretum and the new Children’s Garden. This is in the tree house. It was so wonderful to have family in town and we hope they come back soon!

Alice’s Pony Party

This year Alice turned 2 on Thanksgiving Day and Bryan’s family was in town to help us celebrate both. As soon as the girls woke up Mimi gave them each a stick horse. They were huge hits and kept the girls busy while we prepared Thanksgiving. Once we put the Turkey in the oven we took a walk down the street to visit two horses named Lady and Nacho. We fed them a Thanksgiving feast of apples and carrotsThe birthday party might have been spoiled if Grandpa Guy hadn’t been there to correctly show us how to feed horses without losing fingers. We didn’t think we could count on the girls to hold their hands out flat so we taught them to toss the apples and carrots to Lady and Nacho instead After Thanksgiving lunch it was time for the birthday girl to take a nap and we started decorating the house and cake for her party. Susan made Alice this special birthday table clothWhen Alice woke up we played Pin the Tail on the Horsey In this picture you can see the cute birthday banner Susan made for us Then we read a book about horses and then it was time for birthday cake (or apple pie). Alice knew exactly what to do because she’s been to several birthday parties and she blew out her candle before we were done singing – although I think she tried to wait as long as she could stand it. Alice received many nice presents – including a doll with a foal, a set of miniature horses and a back pack.