A Rainy Weekend

It was a long rainy weekend here in Houston. We didn't go to San Antonio for our anniversary like we wanted to because it was supposed to rain there too all weekend. Don't know if it did or not but it doesn't matter because Eric was sick all weekend so he would have laid in bed the whole time like he did at home, or on the couch! And it poured on Friday afternoon and almost all day Saturday so we kinda were stuck. Friday was our anniversary and started out good. Eric stayed home from work and let me go get a massage. How sweet. It was great. Then when I got home the girls were in bed and we left for our early date night just when they got up! I did see them in the morning until 11, don't think I went all day without them!

In an effort to kill time during the rain we made freezer jam. My first time trying and it came out pretty good. Not as good as my Grandma Barbara's but I will have to try again some time. I put a little too much fruit in and so it didn't' get as gelled as it should have but it was still good.

The girls helped me make it and then eat it too. They loved it as you can see and kept saying they wanted to drink it so that is where most of the mess comes from. They started with bread to dip in it and then went to their hands after the bread was gone.

Searching for more.

We also went puddle stomping on Saturday after the rain finally stopped. The girls had so much fun it was adorable to watch them run back and forth a hundred times through the puddles.

I know I put up a ton of almost the same pictures but usually only one of them is looking or smiling so I just like get a bunch up.

Hugs :) They are so happy when they hug!

Don't bother asking, I don't know why?

Picture from our anniversary night. Happy 5th to us! We got to go out for dinner at our favorite restaurant, P.F. Chang's, and a movie and all before 7:30. That is all the babysitter could stay for so we had an early date night and then put the girls to bed and got to spend the quiet night at home! It actually worked out great and I think I would like to do more early date nights!

My big fall at P.F. Chang's: I was doing really good on not eating sweets until two weeks ago. I hadn't had any in 11 weeks. Even since I caved, a blue bell ice cream sandwich, two weeks ago I was still good. Didn't eat Easter candy and was still okay. But I had decided I was going to eat dessert at P.F. Chang's because they have one of my favorites there and I passed on dessert on v-day, my b-day, the girl's b-day and a few other things in that 11 weeks so I figured on bad night would be okay. Well it would have been if I had any self control left. The dessert we get is the "Great wall of chocolate," not kidding that is it's name. And rightfully so, a six layer chocolate cake covered in yummy chocolate frosting and mini chocolate chips with some fruit and raspberry sauce, and of course a huge bowl of vanilla ice cream on the side. And we ate it all. I was very surprised that we did since Eric has been eating so good lately and I wasn't planning on eating the whole thing but that is how it goes. And it was superb. I want one now just thinking about it. Anyway, point is that after that I was a mess. I was digging through old Easter candy and scrounging for any bit of sugar and chocolate I could all weekend long. It set me on a bad course again. So today I am back to the no sweets for a while. I wish I wasn't an all or nothing person. I'm working on it. One day maybe.

Happy Anniversary

Today is our 5 year anniversary! I really can't believe it has been so long. I don't feel old enough to have been married for 5 years. I am so happy to be married to this wonderful man. Yeah we get on each others nerves sometimes and definitely don't see eye to eye on many things but he is my perfect fit. I just couldn't imagine anyone else who I would go better with. He gets me and deals with me, and still loves me! He works harder than anyone to provide for our family and loves our little girls with all his heart. After 5 years and 2 kids we are very happy! I love you Eric and I am so grateful we get to spend eternity with each other! I can't wait to see what the next few years bring us!

Note to Self

These are just some things I wanted to remember. No picture of them but just wanted to jot them down quick so I wouldn't forget.

And so the blame game begins.....

Rachel was eating a can of peanuts the other day and I saw her dump them on the floor. A few minutes later I asked her who dumped the peanuts on the floor as I went over to clean them up. She looked at me and said "Pebbles did it." I told her I don't think Pebbles did it, did she do it. Again blamed someone else, "Niny did it." At last I finally told her I saw her do it and asked her to come help me clean up, and she did. This was the first time she has blamed someone else for something. At least she blamed Pebbles first so Livy didn't get the blame right away!

Every morning I get Livy out of her bed first because she likes to run in and tickle Rachel. Some days Rachel loves it and some days she doesn't. But Livy gets so excited to do it to her.

Today Rachel was feeding her doll and the conversation went like this: "OK baby, here's your food. It's spicy. Chew it all. Mmm, that's yummy." She talks the whole time to her babies. I need to start listening more carefully so I can catch what she says. And I don't know where she got spicy from. I think we have only said that once to her about salsa?

Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD. Best alphabet teaching DVD. It was my sisters and my mom gave it to us to use and they love the DVD. They learn the sounds of the letters so well and already know all the letters and sounds. I can't believe it. I knew that they knew some of them but they demonstrated their skills in the bathtub the other night. We have those ABC's that stick on the side of the tub. Rachel started picking them up and telling me the letter and the sound. So then we lined them up and I asked Olivia where certain letters were and she picked them out correctly every time. We did each letter but not in order. I was amazed because I had no idea they knew them so well. Some times they can't tell you the name of the letter when I ask what is this, but they can for sure tell you the sound the letter makes. And a few weeks of Dora and they are counting in Spanish too! We didn't even practice that!

And just while I was typing this I heard a cabinet shut, I thought. So I went out in the kitchen a looked around, maybe something fell? Nope, I heard it again and realized this time it was a door. So I went up stairs and there the two little monkeys are, out of the cribs and both in Rachel's room. Rachel was crying a little so I guess she fell out of her crib and Livy must have figured how to climb out without hurting herself. She is the more physically inclined one and Rachel the more verbally inclined so it makes sense. Livy knows how to do the door knobs too and Rachel doesn't yet. Well, this is a first. They haven't ever tried to climb out yet and they both did it today. Livy must have gotten out, went into Rachel's room and then she climbed out too. I would have know all this if I would have turned the monitors on as soon as I put them down but I forgot. Whoops. I missed out on the escape from our beds conversation!

New York

I forgot to mention that we are going to New York on April 25th!!! I am so excited and can't wait to see everyone. It will be my first solo flight with the girls so if anyone has any tips I'm all ears! See all you New Yorkers soon!

Our Easter

Happy late Easter everyone. We had a great day around here. The girls loved everything about Easter, even the extra talking, lesson, and movies on Jesus. Of course they didn't get it yet but they loved hearing about it and all about Jesus. They loved the candy and egg hunts and the egg coloring. How fun is Easter for kids? I totally forgot how much fun they have. We did eggs the night before and they loved it. They did have green and blue stained hands that I was afraid would be there the next day but when you spend an hour in the bath, not much stands a chance of still being there! Of course they loved the egg hunts at home and at Grandma and Grandpa's house and all the candy they could possibly eat. We had a great dinner too. I want more just thinking about it, yum. They cousins all have so much fun together and the weather was great in the afternoon. Here are some pictures from the day.

Easter hats.

Candy stained dress by the end of the day.

Yeah a picture of us!

Rachel and Pop Pop.

Rachel dunking with Daddy.

Some family pictures, with smiling kids! A miracle!

During the egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Rachel stopped and opened every egg she picked up to see what was inside and eat most of them. Livy was on the hunt. She didn't open hers until her basket was full!

A kiss for ducky.

A kiss for cat.

A kiss for sister. I had to have them do something or they wouldn't smile for me. So there are none of them just looking at me smiling because we had to do lots of actions to get a smile. They still came out cute though. Lots of pictures up here because usually it is just one of them with a smile in each picture.

Hugs.

Clapping.

High five.

Kiss again.

Rachel digging candy out of her teeth. Lovely. She was unstoppable with the candy. She couldn't get enough and I don't think she ate real food all day besides breakfast. She did share with Pebbles though. She only liked the purple jelly beans so she would feed the rest to Pebbles.

They have wet hair because we took and after breakfast bath so that they wouldn't be the stinky syrup kids at church!

Bunny ears. After they got lots of candy they finally put them on and hopped around.

Sunday morning went much faster with a bucket of new toys to entertain them!

Best purchase I have made in a while. In the background you can kind of see these red barns.

$1 section at Target, barn and animals. They played with them all day. That was the biggest hit besides the candy of course.

Too busy hunting for candy to look up for a picture.

Coloring eggs the night before. Wearing daddy's work shirts so they could get messy. Didn't actually get that messy.

They loved it though!

Mommy and her girls.

Proud of their creations. I peeled one for each of them to try for breakfast on Easter and they were so grossed out by the way it felt it didn't get close to their mouths.

Relaxing before nap time.

Enjoying the beautiful weather we have here in Houston lately. I am already dreading the months to come and the insane heat. Everyday we will be in the pool for sure. They love love love swimming and playing in any water that they can. Including Pebbles dog bowl. I have caught them twice in the past week dunking their stuffed animals in Pebbles water outside. Gross. I actually didn't even get mad the second time! Yeah a step in the right direction! How does it go, "If you can't beat them, join them?"

My grandma Barbara sent the girls these necklaces and Rachel has been wearing it around since she got it. She loves it. She tries to get Livy to wear hers too but Livy isn't into it.

Having juices. Livy can now open the child safety locks on the cabinets so she goes in there and gets her and Rachel a juice whenever they want one. At least she only goes in that one cabinet and doesn't get into all the others with safety locks.

Eric and I teach a Sunday school class at church. We teach the 7 year olds. I was happy that I got to teach the Easter lesson on the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was a great opportunity to study and to remind me of all that our Savior has done for us. All that he went through and all that we have been given because of him. I am truly grateful for his sacrifice for me and the opportunity he has given me. I hope I can teach the girls of our Savior's love for them as they continue to grow and understand more. It is so sweet to see them talk and learn about Jesus and the Gospel.