Houston Trip

Last weekend, our family benefited from a conference Tom attended in The Woodlands... we got a free trip to go see our friends in Houston!

Ready to go!

Stopped at a Sonic on the way down there... they had a sand volleyball court (what?!?) and these fun cars. It was good for Henry to get out and stretch his legs.

Our first stop was at the Burkharts. The Whitesides joined us and we had a great evening together.

Tom reviewing letters of the alphabet with the kids.

Evie, Bekah, and Henry loving on the wagon.

Evie gave Henry his own basketball goal for his birthday! He LOVES it!

After enjoying a wonderful meal together, Tom headed back to the hotel while the kids and I spent the night with the Burkharts.

The next morning :

Henry is trying to open his birthday gift from Bekah (come on Henry, be smarter than that) and she is eating the paper.

Zack's mom sent this sweet outfit to Margaret when she was born... and Bekah got one, too.

We have heard so many great things about the Houston Children's Museum, so we packed up all the kids and headed there.

Sweet Cousins

Evie was excited to show Henry all the cool things at the museum.

"Hey Lady, want a ride?"

I wasn't that excited about Henry "shopping" in the supermarket area... he doesn't need any encouragement putting random food in the shopping cart... he does this too much already.

Helping out at the vet clinic

There is so much to do at the museum, but we decided to spend most of our time at the "Tot Spot". Basically, its an enclosed, indoor exploring area... you can let your kids free and not have to worry about them... perfect for us moms who just wanted to sit and talk to each other. :)

I did give Margaret Gray some attention... Working on tummy time.

Love this girl

Pretty Bekah

The kids had a jam session, complete with Evie as a "fly girl".

The best pic we could get of the girls in the Bumbos


Henry loved the Tot Spot!

(***Another thing Henry shouldn't be encouraged to do- lock doors! I'll give you the story at the end of the post)


After the museum and eating lunch, we put the kids down for a nap.

Later that day, Jenny took Bekah and Evie (MP had to go to a wedding) to a birthday party.
We stuck around their house and I invited my good friend, Virginia, over.

She was super excited to meet Margaret and I loved visiting with her!


Since Jenny and Zack were already babysitting for Evie, we (Tom returned from the conference) put our kids down at their house and went on a date. Thanks Burkharts!

It was interesting, though, waking up our kids, packing up the car, driving 45 mins to the hotel, and then putting them back down in the hotel room. Somehow it worked.

Sunday morning:

Got dressed, had a leisurely breakfast, then headed home.

Such a fun weekend with such great friends!

**********************************************************************

Locking Door Story

(I'll try to make it short)

So the other morning, I went out to the garage to put the laundry in the dryer. I closed the door behind me because I didn't want Henry to come out there and beg for his dog that was being dried.

I went to open the door... the dead bolt had been locked.

Panicked. I wasn't so worried about Henry being in the house by himself. And I wouldn't have cared that much if Margaret had been in her crib, but I had left her on my bed, propped up on a Boppy!

I knocked on that door for a good 5 mins calling out Henry's name.

No luck. Needed another plan.

Went to the back glass sliding door.

Got Henry to come to me... tried for another 5 mins to get Henry to go unlock the door to the garage, but he would just go stand by it then come back to me. I kept repeating myself like a crazy person... thinking if I said "Henry, go unlock the door" a 100 times, it would work.

Then tried to get him to unlock the glass sliding door. (This was very irrational- there are multiple steps to doing this)

Went back into the garage... (at this point I could hear Margaret screaming. Was she going to fall off the bed? Was Henry going to try to comfort her and accidentally do something wrong??)

Talking through the door, I tried to get Henry to unlock the dead bolt.. but he would only turn the knob.

I went back to the back door, and saw that Henry had just sat down and started crying. UGH- my heart broke.

At this point I realized that I needed to go to plan B, or was it C?

I knew that my sister in law (who lives several blocks over) had a key to our house.

I needed to get there.

Should I run there in my dress and flip flops?

No that would take too long and I would have died trying to run.

Luckily, my neighbor was home.

(Why didn't I do this in the first place?? It was so hard walking away from my house)

I asked her to take me to my in laws house... she just gave me the keys to her car and watched over my house.

I drove recklessly through our neighborhood, gave a bad look to the old man who gave me a bad look for driving so fast, and got to Kate's house.

Luckily, I know their garage code and got our house key.

Sped back.

Unlocked our door.

Henry was crying (now because he pushed mute on the TV and couldn't hear)

Margaret was screaming her head off. She had fallen off the Boppy but was still on the bed.

I don't think I've ever held my children so tight.

Crazy thing is that I've never seen Henry play with the lock on the door.

Dino-mite Party

A couple of weekends ago, Henry, Margaret, and I went to our little friend, Jackson's 3rd birthday party. Mom Liz is an amazing party planner and she pulled out all of her party tricks for her sweet little guy!

How cute is this shirt Liz made!

Here is a link to Liz's blog... check out the other decorations she made.
Henry enjoyed all the yummy food.
To check out the food in detail- click here.

A serious cake eater :)

Click here for more photos of this great party.

Way to go, Liz!

Hanging out with MG

...In Sickness and In Health

We were so lucky to have the Burkharts come visit us last week.

I feel like it had been ages since we saw this sweet girl!

Jenny made matching onesies for Bekah and Margaret.

(Since Margaret doesn't know how to speak yet, we taught her how to make an "M".... for Margaret... with her arms. Just kidding)

We tried to get a pic of the both of them.
This pic pretty much shows how the "photo session" went.



A little better.

As good as it got.

The kiddos enjoyed super time together.

Unfortunately, this was the last meal Henry enjoyed for a while.

When Tom went to check on Henry that night, he saw that Henry had gotten sick. It was pretty yucky. Jenny was so sweet to help out... reading to Henry while we (actually Tom) cleaned.

Luckily, Jenny and Bekah haven't gotten sick.

Tom and I got sick Friday night... that was fun.

ANYHOO...

We had to cancel our playdate with our other buddies on Tuesday and Jenny and Bekah went off to stay with the McAdams.

It was fun while it lasted!

Thanks for coming to visit!

Church Nursery

Margaret got to go meet some new friends in the church nursery for the first time (a couple of weeks ago).

I didn't take any pics of her in the nursery, but here we are ready to go.

When we got home... her name tag.

2 months

During Margaret Gray's 2nd month of life she:

dropped a night feeding (going 6 hour stretches)

started to smile (especially at her daddy)

(I think that's about it... she's a real laid back baby. super sweet. such a joy)

Went to her 2 month check up:
12 lbs 8 ounces
24 inches
small head :)

Sports or Academics?

Maybe both.

Walked by Henry's room the other day. Saw this:

Dallas Blooms

Last week we joined Amy & Brinley and Kristen & Ava at the Arboretum.

It was a beautiful day to be outside!

Stopping to smell the flowers

Margaret was even happy in her sleep!

The best pic I could get

Probably shouldn't have sat in the dirt

Enjoying some lunch

Sweet Ava

Henry and Ava checking out the animals

Why, Hello there Margaret

Amy and Brinley got a fantastic pic of them sitting here under the tree lined walkway. We tried, too... Didn't really work for us- Henry wouldn't join us... even though Amy captured him in the background.

Stinker!

Much better.

Loved how Henry found his pocket

Had a great time hanging out with these ladies!