Bye, bye CR-V

It's time for Patrick and I to consider upgrading to a bigger vehicle. With Peanut on the way, the CR-V just isn't big enough (sniff, sniff.) The thought of selling my car has been so sad for me; we have only had the car for 1.5 years! I love my Honda... It drives smoothly, turns on a dime and gets great gas mileage (not to mention the cuteness factor.) I'm not sure what I am going to get to replace it, but I know it will have to be BIGGER and BULKIER (and probably a lot less cute.) Anyway, we are trying to sell it, so if you know of anyone who needs a great reliable car, send them my info!

2008 Honda CR-V w/ 23k Miles

Valentines Cookies

One of our snow day activities was baking valentines cookies! Yummy! Eloise loves to help me in the kitchen (but, mostly likes to lick the batter off of the mixer.) We had a lot of fun staying in our pajamas, making cookies, and even coaxing daddy out of the office (briefly) to come help us decorate them!

Eloise in her apron enjoying some cookie dough.
Helping cut out the heart shapes.
Decorating the sweets with daddy!

Of course, we had to sample some, immediately!

Lucie really enjoyed the icing. What a mess!

Our colorful creations

(completely out of red food coloring... so no traditional pink cookies!)

This is SNOW exciting!

In DFW we have received 12.5 inches of snow in 24 hrs! We have reached a new record for snowfall in one day. The snow began on Thursday morning at about 6 am and didn't stop ALL day. We woke up Thursday morning and Eloise immediately wanted to go outside. She's been learning about snow and snowmen at school and couldn't wait to get in on the action! We bundled up in several layers of clothes and headed outside.... Here are some of the photos I got.

The front of our house and the snow fall.

Looking down the street... it was so beautiful!

Daddy wasn't feeling well... in fact we spent the previous night in the ER. He had a terrible headache that wouldn't go away. After calling the doctor, they pointed us to the ER. There we found out he had a massive sinus infection. So sad! They gave him a bunch of meds and he was KNOCKED out, so he missed out on some of the fun.

He's going to kill me for putting this photo on my blog! :)

Eloise, my little snow angel, having a blast.

As much as Eloise loved it--

Lucie was not a big fan....

Daddy couldn't stay inside any longer... He had to come show Eloise how to make a snow angel.

This was Eloise and my first snowman. It was the first time in both of our lives that there was enough snow accumulated on the ground to make a full 3 ball snowman!

WE HAD A BLAST!

We couldn't find a hat, so ours has a bow, and is now a "snowgirl!"

Lucie liked it better if someone was there to make sure she didn't fall down!

I know I'm bias... but could she be ANY cuter?

~~~

It snowed overnight on Thursday. McKinney was a winter wonderland Friday, as well! As soon as the girls saw the snow out the window, they wanted to go out again.

Daddy felt much better so he was able to join us! Here we are headed to make ANOTHER "snowgirl"... Eloise couldn't wait. And we had a solution for Lucie's problem with touching the snow.

We learned some valuable lessons about "how to build a snowman" from Daddy- He thinks he's a pro because he spent 2 winters in Wisconsin! So this "snowgirl" was MUCH bigger, and sturdier. Here Patrick is helping Eloise "mold the head."

Our finished product. This one is in the front yard for all of the neighborhood to enjoy!

Lucie enjoyed the snow much better from her exersaucer. No tears!

Eloise liked the snow so much that she

let her dad bury her in it!

I hope we don't have to wait forever before

we have snow like this again! It was a day filled with

fun memories with my family.

We enjoyed every minute of it!!!

Lucie Rose is walking!

I wish I knew how to post a video because still photos just don't capture the cuteness of a new walker! We went down to Houston a few weekends ago and Lucie decided to become a full time walker. She went from crawling to walking one day. The next day she mastered getting from sitting to standing all by herself (not needing to pull up on furniture first.) And she's OFF!Lucie in her "new walker stance" legs wide, arms out for balance... now just imagine a waddle and march combined and there you have it! Lucie is officially mobile!

I have a feeling my job is about to get a LOT harder....

Valentines Celebrations

Eloise and Lucie had their first Valentines celebrations at school this week! Lucie's was first, on Monday. Her class is the youngest in the Mothers Day Out program and they are all so cute! They are called the "jellyfish" and their party pretty much consists of eating a cookie and all of the mommies and teachers making a fuss over them. Of course, they all had their Valentines attire on! Lucie and her teachers Ms. Tara and Ms. Karen
My sweetie "made" me this Valentine. I love that big goofy grin!

Here is Lucie enjoying her cookie and water. She pretty much ate the whole thing in one bite... this little one can EAT!
~~~

Eloise and the "tadpoles" had their party on Wednesday! They made ice cream sundaes with all of the toppings (whipped cream, syrup, chocolate chips, m&m's, sprinkles, and a cherry on top!) Eloise enjoyed eating the chocolate chips and had only a few bites of the ice cream... she is my picky eater. After she had her treat she and her friends made candy necklaces and posed for a photo shoot.I scream, you scream we all scream for Ice Cream!

Eloise in her Valentines outfit... Strike a pose!

Some of Eloise's friends from class: Kennedi, Carson, Eloise, and Noah!

A special treat for mommy and daddy... Eloise says "I made that You!!!" (I made it for you!)

We hope you have a fun and love filled Valentines!

Homemade Valentines!

As I was flipping through a " Disney Family Fun" magazine at the dentists office last week, I found the cutest handmade Valentine idea. Eloise and Lucie had their first Valentine parties this year (more pictures of that to come) and I thought it would be a great opportunity to make these adorable creations and teach about reusing old materials instead of throwing them away! Best of all, when their friends plant their cards in soil, they will get to watch wildflowers bloom!

We started with an old newspaper and cut it into small pieces

Then, we soaked the pieces in water for an hour (We added red food coloring so our finished product would be PINK!)
This was the messy part (and where mommy did most of the work.) We pureed the water/paper mixture in a food processor, sprinkled in the extra special ingredient (wildflower seeds) and then poured it into a shallow baking dish.
In order to make the paper mommy had to make these 5x7 screens out of window screen material and masking tape! Eloise enjoyed playing with them! We dipped each screen in the paper mixture, smoothed them out with our hands, and air dried them overnight on a bakers rack.This is what the handmade paper looked like the next day. Each rectangle allowed us to cut out two hearts!

Then we attached a green pipe cleaner, green yarn and a leaf with an extra special message. It said "Watch Our Friendship Bloom! Plant the heart in soil, water often, and wildflowers will bloom!"

Of course we kept some so we could plant a few, too! I'll keep you posted on the growth of our wildflowers! ;)

MUST... STAY... STRONG...

I am leaving for my final ultrasound in about 10 minutes....

We have found out baby's gender ahead of time with BOTH of our other girls. As I have said before, Patrick and I decided to make this baby's gender a surprise. I want to stick to that plan because I think it adds an element of intrigue to the whole delivery process and makes it a bit more exciting. Plus, everyone says "It's one of the only TRUE surprises in life!" and I agree.

That being said... here I am. About to go to an ultrasound, knowing I COULD find out, if I wanted to... This is the ONLY time I struggle with this plan.

RIGHT BEFORE THE ULTRASOUND!

Anyways... wish me luck! I must stay strong... it is my last moment of temptation and should be smooth sailing from here... Promise to post pictures afterwards!

Eloise's Grand Prediction

So... For the past two days, without mommy asking, Eloise has blurted out to me (or random strangers):

"Mommy has a baby BOY in her tummy!"

I don't know where the little fortune teller gets her info, but maybe she's onto something...

What do you think? ;)