Zoo Day

We owed the little girls a zoo trip.  We had attempted Houston Zoo a few months back, but we got all the way there and Piper started vomiting all over Burger King. So in February, I took a day off and we let Makenzie play hookie so we could take everyone to the zoo.  Initially, we planned to head to Houston again but I heard Waco was more small child friendly and we had never been, so off we went!

 

Makenzie's on the Jaguar team at school, so we attempted a picture with one in the background.

 Stormie had so much fun just running from exhibit to exhibit at her own pace.

 This oragutan kept kissing Makenzie and Stormie through the glass--it was so cute and I have a great video of it but I can't make it work here.

 

The mommy orangutan could not keep her eyes off her baby across the way.  He was so cute!

 

After the zoo, we made a trip by The Silos to look around and eat at the food trucks.

Valentine's Day

Tim and I have always teamed up to make homemade valentines for the kiddos.  I choose a design and he helps me make it a reality.  I have very rarely purchased store-bought valentines....I just love to personalize them, plus it's usually less expensive!  This year we did a milk & cookies theme with oreos.

 

And look at my cute little human valentines dressed in pink with their boots on!

Christmas!

The girls really enjoyed decorating for Christmas this year.  We kept with our tradition of cutting down our own tree at Tim's Trees in Wheelock and this year our tree was huge!  It was our first Christmas in the new house, so we got some new decorations for the inside and we had someone come do the outside lights for us.

We went to church on Christmas Eve and then ate at Red Lobster.  Makenzie got to see her favorite teacher from her daycare from when she was itty bitty.

Stormie was really into it this year and had some very particular requests, one of which was super heroes.  She was SO EXCITED to see that Santa had brought her super heroes just like she asked for!

  

Piper got alot of Doc McStuffins this year and she loved it.  She looks a little overwhelmed in this picture!

 

Makenzie's big gift was a pink Fitbit and a new tv, which she was really glad to see!

 

Tim got a nice new watch to add to his wardrobe.

 

A few days later, my sister and her family were able to make it down to celebrate and my contribution to the meal was this yummy chocolate pie.

The Nutcracker (2nd annual)

In keeping with our new tradition from last year, Makenzie and I dressed up and went to the local performance of the The Nutcracker.  This year, we took Stormie too, although I don't think it was the best idea.  She was very fidgety and distracted very soon after it began, but we stayed for the entire thing!

Beaux Rivage

Tim was so luck (unlucky?) in Vegas that he scored a follow-up trip to Beaux Rivage Casino & Resort in Mississippi with airfare included for $40 per person!  We have never been, so why not?  We boarded an early-morning flight with a bunch of retirees (ha) and headed that way. 

It was a nice resort and all decorated for Christmas time.  We won a little bit of cash, had a day at their spa and ate some great seafood.  It's always fun to share a new adventure with Tim!

Halloween, Frozen Style

We wanted to do a theme for Halloween costumes this year and the little girls LOVE Frozen, so voila!  I present to you Anna, Elsa and Olaf!

Piper turns TWO

Just like that, our surprise bundle of joy is the big TWO!  We celebrated quietly at home with family and Minnie Mouse was Piper's theme of choice this year.

She is a sassy baby sister for sure.  Her speech has been slow to develop compared to the other two, but she is having language explosions every day now.  She is a bundle of sweet, happy energy and goes at full speed all the time, but she is still a mama's girl and weary of strangers.  She does not really like to sleep much and is the most difficult to get down at night and keep down at night, but she partied so hard and was so worn out at bedtime!

 At her check up, she was 33.5lbs and 37 inches tall--98% for weight and off the chart for height.  She did have to get some immunizations, and they gave her a sucker after--she was so proud of herself for getting it unwrapped by herself in the car while I wasn't looking!