Thankful

I'm fairly certain I've title another post 'Thankful" but I don't mind repeating history, because I truly am THANKFUL in this season of life.  I would be willing to bet I am not the only mom out there that often spends a morning sipping coffee, watching her children play in awe of the joy, love and blessing that surround her.  This Thanksgiving, I was on a 'love high,' as I said, right after giving birth.  The holidays are so special and watching the magic through my children's eyes is enough to make my heart burst.  I am also keenly aware of families who are struggling right now, whether it be financially, facing a year of firsts after the loss of a loved one or fighting an ugly disease, like cancer.  Our prayer list is so long I've had to start writing it down in my phone so that I won't forget who needs us to prayer over their circumstances.  So many people we love are hurting for one reason or another.  I realize storms are inevitable in all of our lives, and right now we are sailing smooth seas, but I don't forget for a moment that the wind can and will change direction.  It helps me to remain thankful and TRY not to get caught up in the daily messes of life, like the fact that our house is never clean enough, the kids aren't sleeping through the night or that our health insurance rates just blew up again.  Instead, I am reminded that we have a home full of life to clean, precious children calling out for us in the middle of our deep sleep and the ability to provide for our family and never go without.  We are healthy and we are beyond blessed.

With all of that said, we had a wonderfully, low-key Thanksgiving with our families.  We celebrated with Mike and Mom the weekend before as they headed to Conroe to be with Mike's family.  We had a perfect day spent by the fire, eating, (okay gorging) and soaking up sweet moments with the twins.  Daddy taught Grayson how to tackle him.  Let's just say, it was ADORABLE!

We spent Thanksgiving with Aaron's families.  We started at Grandpa and Grandma Thomas' and then headed to the Clark's.  Speaking of thankful, how cool is it that we are spending another holiday season with all four of Aaron's grandparents?  Uncle Tommy and Aunt Kathi were still here before heading on Colorado and then back to Belize.  Olivia showed us her big girl walk and the kids all played until they nearly passed out.  At home we watched the Cowboys WIN!  10-1!  I am definitely not a die-hard Cowboy fan, I am more accurately, a fair weather fan, but at least I am honest about it!  Even us fair weather fans are excited about this season!  We wrapped up the night with leftovers and movies.  Aside from not seeing Nana and Papa, it was a perfect turkey day!

Happy Halloween from Mickey and Minnie!

Oh what fun it is to trick or treat with toddlers!  I am a self admitted holiday addict.  I dreamed of our firsts from the moment we found out I was expecting.  What I didn't realize was that while firsts are incredibly special, seconds and thirds are equally as fun.  We spent our first year at home with two tiny babies handing out candy, last year we went on a trick or treat hay ride with friends with our barely walking cowboy and Indian.  Fast forward to current and we have two walking and talking toddles that were thrilled to carry their pumpkin baskets and shove their chubby hands into our neighbors treats.  We started the week off with strep throat.  I could have cried I was so disappointed.  Thankfully, after 2 days on antibiotics we were no longer contagious and feeling (almost) as good as new!  We planned to hayride with our friends again, but decided to venture out in our neighborhood since I woke up not feeling well Halloween morning.  Best not to share my germs with our friends.  I was happy to follow the kids around taking pictures while Dad pulled them in their wagon.  We ended up having a blast with just the four of us.  We were able to totally focus on the twins and their experience as they figured it all out. Our trick-or-treating started about 6:30 while it was still 80 something degrees.  Will it ever cool down?!  The littles were a bit unsure of walking up to strangers at first, Grayson more so than Hallie  Once they realized what was at stake they became fast professionals.  Little did we know our neighborhood goes all out.  People were gathered in their front yards cooking out, watching spooky movies on projectors and everyone from babies to adults were in in costume.  In between houses G&H would go  through all their candy showing us and each other their treasures, counting every piece over and over.  As we left each house, they would say, bye house, bye door, bye people.  At one house, we rolled up and Grayson pointed the their pumpkins saying, "Look!  A pumpkin patch!"

Needless to say, we had a perfect night out in the 'hood!

Costumes were fun and easy, Mom sewed some, I glued some and rest came from Amazon!

Hallie is TWO

Height:
Weight:

Likes: Her family, and she says, 'family' in a sing-song voice all the time!  It's no secret she loves book and has since she was old enough to hold them.  I often find her in her tee-pee or behind the rocking chair looking at books quietly by herself.  She currently loves Peppa the Pig and plays with the "lellow house" all day long.  It's a replica of the house on the show, with furniture and character figurines.  She would prefer Grayson never touch the Lellow House, but as you can imagine, he does.  She likes to play outside, go for walks, and loves being snuggled.  She takes after me and lies perfectly still while I play with her hair or run my fingers gently over her face.  She loves her brother most of the time, and is always concerned of his whereabouts.  Baths, Mickey Mouse and Jungle Book are a few more of her favorite things.

Dislikes:  Being tackled by Grayson, having her diaper changed (no upside down she says), pasta and only having one shoe on.

Favorite foods:  Fruit, veggies, yougrt and pancakes.  She loves ice cream aka 'creamy cup' and sweets from her grandparents.  They have a hard time saying no.

Favorite toys:  Peppa the Pig's house, butterfly net (she calls it pink), stickers, colors and paints.  She likes to create things.  She recently has started paying more attention to her baby doll and likes to take her for a spin in the toy stroller and give her a bottle.  It's pretty stinking cute.  She loves puzzles, too.

Favorite books:  Hallie loves books that focus on letter, numbers and colors.  She loves The Little Mouse and the Big Hungry Bear and nursery rhymes.  She recently started to rehearse nursery rhymes I didn't even know she knew.  I have found her numerous times looking at books without pictures, most recently the Bible.  She looked at it for what seemed like an hour.  Already getting the Word in!

Funny things she says:  I went away for a weekend and came home to Hallie saying 'la' and 'le' in front of her words, "Mommy change le diaper?' or 'take le baffie' for take a bath.  I started to wonder if she made a trip to Paris without my knowledge!  She frequently says, 'Oh Gracie' or 'Oh Nana'.    She is very expressive and talks non-stop.  A few weeks ago I said goodnight to her and she said, 'Goodnight sugar', just like her Grammy says to her.  It was precious!

What she's up to:  Hallie was counting to 14 or 15 before turning two and now counts to 20, she knows the letters in the alphabet and recognizes colors and shapes.  She has an excellent memory and is very interested in letters and numbers.  Recently, she discovered my makeup and jewelry.  She loves any opportunity to sit on the counter with me and put on all of my bracelets and play with my make up brushes.  She loves the color pink and has a thing for a 'pretty dress'.  I might be in trouble with this one's love for clothes and shoes!  She has a very sweet soul, shows concern for other's and is one of the happiest toddlers around.  She shows me when she is mad or sad by hanging her head, pouting her lip or laying quietly on the floor.  She minds very well, but has meltdowns when she has had enough of brother ribbing her. She doesn't go to time out often, but when she does it doesn't hase her in the least!  She melts our hearts with her pink little glasses and her adorable smile.

Hallie Ryan, you are so special to Mommy and Daddy and make our world a better place.  Happy second birthday, Pumpkin Pie!

Grayson is TWO

I usually combine milestones posts, but for two years old I felt I should do an individual post for both.  I'll start with Grayson since he is technically my first born.  Hallie you were close behind, but brother is a little bit older, even if only 3 minutes.

Height
Weight; 30 pounds

Likes: Big Daddy is his best friend, but he loves all of his grandparents very much!  Going for walks, playing at the park and exploring outside. He's into Mickey Mouse, Lion Guard, being tickled, wrestling, cuddling, playing chase and destroying Hallie's carefully placed toys causing her to have full blown meltdowns.  G loves to play with friends, especially the older kids.  He is thrilled to play with Roman, Hayden and Dakota.

Dislikes: Having his hair washed, getting food on his hands or body, slices of cheese (will accept melted cheese), and he is not a fan of Big Daddy giving anyone else his attention.

Favorite foods: Hands down fruit!  He also enjoys most all vegetables, oatmeal, pancakes, milk and graham crackers.  He gets cookies at his grandparents house, but not often from Mom or Dad.  He loves to eat cereal out of a bowl like a big boy and of course, downs the milk to finish it off.  He has gotten really good at using utensils and does well outside of the highchair when we are not home.

Favorite toys: Animal figures, Mickey Mouse figures, outdoor playhouse, butterfly net and Peppa Pig playhouse.

Favorites books: The Little Mouse and the Big Hungry Bear and Mickey Mouse pop up books.  He loves any books with farm animals.

Funny things he says: See you later alligator, is one of my favorite phrases he has started to use after Grammy said it to him a few weeks back. Even when we realize he is listening; he usually is.  He repeats everything we say when we say it or waits to fire something off out of the blue.  While he was eating chips and queso for the first time, watching the cheese drip off the chip, he tilted his head to the side and said very inquisitively, 'what the hell??'  The funniest part, was the context in which he used the statement.  He had never seen cheese drip off a chip.  Aaron and I were shocked and did our best to hide our laughter.  For the record, I fully blame Aaron for that one!  Moments like these reminds us that these precious little people are soaking up every word we say, how we speak to others and how we treat others.

What he's up to: G counts to 10, knows most of the alphabet, a few colors and most of shapes.  He is joyful, silly, funny and loving.  He enjoys story time, coloring and emptying boxes of toys out for me to pick up.  He is starting to run, dance and climb (I has to watch this one closely).  He sings, "LA LA LA" as well as most of the ABC song.  This is absolutely adorable.  I always try to get catch him singing on video, but he's hip to my game by now.  He has recently started giving lots of kisses and saying "I lub you".  As you can imagine, this melts my heart.  He harasses the dogs and his sister, but is also very loving towards them.  My mom likes to say he is ALL BOY.  He loves to play at the church daycare, but cries when we drop him off.  He is very social, but slow to warm up, especially with men.  G is no stranger to time out, but overall listens well and knows when Dad and Mom mean business.  His big blue and eyes and porcelain skin makes all the ladies swoon, especially his mommy.

Grayson James, you bring so much love and light to our world.  Happy SECOND Birthday baby boy!

Oink, Cluck, Moo... Grayson and Hallie are TWO

And just like that, I have two two year olds!  We celebrated with our family, a few friends and our favorite barnyard animals.  Grayson and Hallie are thrilled with all things animal so we had a petting zoo for their special day.  They were in heaven until the goat nibbled on Hallie's ear and Grayson was pushed down to avoid being stepped on by the cow.  Otherwise, the party went off without a hitch.
We spent their actual birthday at home taking dealing with the stomach bug.  Hallie woke up fussing fairly early which is unusual for her.  We plopped her bed with us to cuddle until Grayson woke up.  We brought them out to the new table Papa and Nana got for them, sat them down in front of their gifts and started to sing.  Meanwhile, Hallie is crying, and I assume it's because I picked up Grayson and not her to bring them in the living room.  Mid Happy Birthday song, she throws up all over her birthday card and gift.  Poor girl was sick and I thought she was just moody!  Shortly after, Grayson threw up a couple times.  We spent the day watching movies instead of our plan to "ride de horsey' (the carousel) and go to Chucky-Cheese.  Thankfully, Aaron and I didn't get it and the twins were better by the end of the day.  I was off to New York the following day and was so glad I wasn't leaving a sick family behind.  That might go down as the easiest bug in history.

First Family Vacation

In July we took our first ever, family vacation to.... Galveston, Texas!  I've always dreamed of vacationing with my family to beautiful, far away places, but when the time to actually book a flight with my almost two, two year olds I chickened out.  I was equally nervous about road trips.  We decided to head to the coast for Mike's triplet, sibling's birthday to test the water, so to speak.  All of my concerns about schedules, driving and packing our house up were for nothing.  It was perfect and they were angels!  We booked a family-friendly hotel with a great pool on the beach.  Grayson and Hallie loved playing in the sand and swimming in the pool during the day.  They were exhausted, took great naps and slept like little rocks every night.  They ate up all of the attention with family and proved to us that traveling with toddlers was a breeze!
Now excuse me, as I start planning our next family getaway!

Mother's Day 2016

We enjoyed a perfectly sweet Mother's Day with family.   This year was particularly special to me, as I have become intently aware of the beauty that is motherhood.  More than ever, I appreciate the beautiful and strong women in my life who have helped shape the woman I am today.  I realized as I was picking out cards, seven to be exact; that I am surrounded by an army of incredible women.
Mom and I started a new tradition of spending the day and having lunch at the Dallas Arboretum.  We call it our happy place.
On Mother's Day, Aaron, Grayson, Hallie and I went to Starbucks for a casual breakfast and surprised the Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers with roses from the twins.  H&G were thrilled to give out each rose and the grandmothers, even more so.  
Mom and Mike hosted a BBQ with the Clark's and Thomas'.  Tommy and Kathi were in town and spent the evening with us as well.  I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day with family.

Motherhood has been the most beautiful gift.  I really couldn't ask for more.