My Valentines

The girls have been very excited for Valentine's Day. Probably since Christmas, Lyla has been asking me what to celebrate next! I tried to keep them busy with little crafts and activities Vday related for the last month. 

Here they are filling out their Valentines to mail to cousins and grandparents

And this was the aftermath of two toddlers...they did get in the mail though!

Painting some window hearts

Baking some Valentine cookies

Now time for icing and just "a few" sprinkles...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Trying out her new remote controlled Minnie

I had bought Lyla and me tickets to see Riverdance at the Fabulous Fox Theater downtown on V-Day. She had been so excited and talking about it for months. It was such a special afternoon and I loved the one-on-one time I had with my big girl. She did very well sitting through a two hour show and she loved getting all dressed up and exploring the fancy theater.

It had snowed that morning and it was still freezing and windy when we got downtown

As soon as we went inside, we went to the bathroom first. I was telling Lyla on our way there about how this bathroom had been nominated for being the fanciest bathroom in America. You enter the bathroom by going down a long staircase and then there is a lounge area outside the actual bathroom. There were two older ladies sitting on chairs like the ones below in the lounge and Lyla shouts, "Mommy!! Look! Even the toilets are so fancy those ladies are sitting on!" The ladies and I both died laughing :)

The staircase leaving the bathroom

While we were waiting for the curtains to open to find our seats, Lyla was sitting on this chair when an older gentleman walked up to us and said, "Young lady, you are so pretty I thought you were a statue." Which Lyla answered, "I'm not a statue, I'm Lyla. This is Mommy. Daddy and Kately are at home. We have two cats, Hank and Harley. And God made us all!" I died. I love this kid so much. The older guy kinda grinned and didn't know what to say! However, this conversation made me realize my Stranger Danger talks are not really sinking in...

Once inside the theater, Lyla loved the fancy ceiling

Such a special date with my little lady!

After the show, we went home to our other Valentines who had enjoyed their naps

So sweet!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My Little Gymnast

I love my Thursday mornings with this little lady in her gym class. She has become quite the fearless, independent gymnast! She LOVES swinging on the bars, rings, playing with the parachute, and running/jumping on the air mat. It is so fun watching her become more comfortable with herself and her surroundings. Sometimes she is the first one to try a new trick out in front of her classmates. So proud of this little mama!

Shaking the parachute is a serious matter

One, two, three...

SWING!!

See what I mean about independent! She did NOT want to hold Mommy's hand

This has to be my favorite part of class every week! The look of pure joy on every kid's face while chasing and popping bubbles just cracks me up! If only life could always be this sweet and easy ;)

Love this girl!!

Fun Weekend

What a fun weekend! On Friday morning, we met some friends of ours and their 3 year old (just 2 days younger than Lyla) at the Scottrade Center for Disney on Ice. The girls LOVED it. I think we are totally ready for Disney World - right, Daddy?!? :) Kately's mind was blown the second Mickey came out on the ice! The first half was Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Toy Story, and The Lion King - all movies my girls have never seen...which led to Lyla asking every 2 minutes, "Mom, where are the PRINCESSES?!?" Thankfully the second half featured Aladdin, Snow White, Rapunzel, Ariel, and Tiana.

Of course we dressed up...

It was cute, whenever there was a scary scene Lyla would grab Daddy's arm

I don't know if she was more excited about what was going on or the fact we let her eat popcorn at 10:30 in the morning...

"MOM, the princesses?!???"

Hallelujah, there are ALL the princesses!

After the show, we grabbed some lunch at McGurk's. Here are the girls with their new princesses

On Saturday it was so nice, 60 degrees the last weekend of January?!? It was cute, Lyla had her first neighbor girl come ask her to come over and play. She was a little shy at first so Daddy and Kately walked her down.

And yes, I was totally creeping on them from the upstairs window!!

Saturday night the couple across the street had the whole neighborhood over for a little get-together. It was so nice to finally meet a lot of our new neighbors. Everyone was sweet and welcoming, we had a great time. On Sunday, since it was still so nice out the girls were anxious to get out and play.

I think we are really going to love our neighborhood. Here are the Dads shooting hoops and the kids riding bikes (you can see L & K down the street in their gator). The Moms...we were socializing of course!

Hello, I'm still here!

Ugh, I have completely dropped the ball here! Between moving two times and trying to keep up with two toddlers...I have really let this blog slide! I have all my pictures organized and notes/stories on my phone but I have not taken the time to post them here. While I'm not even sure anyone reads all my posts, I'm going to do my best to get caught up mainly because my whole purpose of doing this blog is to have a place to keep my memories of this amazing, crazy life. In order to not forget things, I'm going to mix up my posts with current ones as well as ones from the past few months. I'm still going to date them based on when they happened so when I print these out into albums for myself and the girls, they will be in the correct order. Thanks for bearing with me!

Life lately...

We are really enjoying our new house and neighborhood. The girls have transitioned well and are loving their new stomping grounds. Not everything is put away and organized, but we are getting there!

Upstairs playroom, where we spend most of our days!

The girls are growing so much I can't handle it! Let's start with Miss Lyla:

This girl keeps me on my toes! She is as sweet as pie one minute and then a three year old the next! Or I guess the term these days is "threenager". This child is also my fashionista! Almost everyday she is in a princess dress or some outfit she has put together complete with accessories! In the picture above she is rocking a swimsuit, swimsuit cover, fur vest, and snow hat :) I'm picking my battles right now! She is all things princess, LOVES her dance class, and we just signed her up for T-Ball this spring. She loves snuggling at bed time, reading Fancy Nancy & The Cat in the Hat books, and squeezes her cats any time they give her the chance. I love when she comes into the room and says, "Mommy, can you do me a favorite?" I also love when she talks about Princess Rapunzel - which she pronounces "Poop-punzel." Makes Heath and me giggle like middle schoolers every time!

Then there is the second child:

I mean, look at that sweet, innocent face!! Oh, Kately Rene! I can't believe how fast she is growing. She is now talking ALL THE TIME in complete sentences that we can understand 90% of the time! She is not a morning person (may have inherited that from her mother). Every morning I get her out of bed, change her diaper, and then she grabs a stack of books and takes them to her chair. She wants to be left alone in her room to read her books and then once she finishes, she makes her way downstairs and is ready for the day. Other than books, Kate loves going to Little Gym on Thursdays, playing with her sister, and is the best snuggler ever! Nothing melts my heart more than when she says, "I hold you, Mama?" Meaning pick me up and rock me! She is soooo stinkin ornery! Even when Heath or I have to reprimand her we have to turn our heads so she doesn't see us laughing. Her facial expressions and rotten giggle are the sweetest!