Rainforest Cafe

One of the reasons I love living in Dallas is because there is so much available to you and so many neat things to do. On Saturday, Brian took us girls to the Rainforest Cafe. It was such a neat experience! It is a restaurant that is completely turned into a Rainforest. It's dark and there's special lighting and sounds and animals everywhere you look that turn on about every 10 minutes and move and make sounds.




Now when we first got there, Halle looked like this...





Because we sat right next to this...



And that was scary for her! But thankfully after about 15 minutes she realized they weren't real, even though she said the elephants were stuck in the wall. So we then had a great time!!







And here's smiley!

Halle girl

And here's Halle's tutu pics- just a few. I haven't managed to get them both yet together. But I think some turned out cute. Halle is creeping up on turning 3 and I can't believe it. She's so grown up. Here are a few excerpts from things she's said lately:

While driving in the car, "Mommy, you gotta watch out for that big truck."

"No Lily, no crying, we're watching Diego."

"Lily doesn't talk."

After I went to the bathroom, she brings me a container on M & M's, "here you go Mommy, you went potty, you get an M & M, good job!"

"No Mommy, Nana is at work with my daddy."

"I got to put my lipstick on Mommy."

Winter!

We woke up this morning to this!!



The first thing Halle asked to do was to go ice skating- and then she asked to go in the "sleigh." It looks so beautiful with the snow falling- I'm so glad we got to see a real snowfall this year! So we bundled up while Lily was sleeping and headed outside. Since we don't have a sled, I improvised. Halle loved it at first and then by the time I got my camera out, she was all done. But we made a lovely snowman and threw some snowballs at our tree. And of course the best part was having hot chocolate when we came in!







And here's Lily at 6 weeks- a sample of a photo shoot I did with her and her new tutu!

Where a kid can be a kid

Yesterday Halle experienced her first trip to Chuck E Cheese! We went with our PTA group and she had a lot of fun. She wasn't so sure about the big mouse walking around, but she loved all the games. It was fun to see her with her little friends walking around and using their tokens for the rides. Of course she enjoyed the pizza and cake we had as it was a "Valentine's" party for the kiddos.







This is what Lily did the whole time...




And here's the girls- Halle is such a good big sister!





And a few moments with Lily and her parents...

My grandma is my daughter...

Halle's been talking lately about her "grandma." She calls my mom, Nana, and Brian's mom, Mimaw. So I asked her who her grandma was and she said, "my grandma is my daughter. She's at school." So I'm not sure who this mysterious "grandma" is, but I thought it was funny. She's got it on the brain because she's had so much grandma time lately! Brian's parents came last week to help out with the girls and us. It was great to have them here. I think Halle's been awful spoiled and misses the extra playmates. This week, reality set in, as I'm getting into the swing of things with the kiddos all by myself. This week has been crazy for Brian with various meetings, and funerals, and such, so I've been pretty much on my own. I love seeing Halle as a big sister, being such a big helper, and I love every moment with Lily.






Lily was 3 weeks old yesterday. She still mostly sleeps, but when she's awake- oh those blue eyes are too precious!

Thanks Mom!

Saturday my Mom left to head back to Chicago after being here through Christmas and for Lily's surprise arrival. I'm so thankful that things worked out the way they did with Lily's timing. My mom was able to be here for us to go to the hospital unexpectedly to have little Lily. She was such a huge help the whole first week we were home with the 2 girls. On her last day here, we wanted to do something special for "big sister," so we took Halle to a place called the Wiggle Room. It is a fun play area for kids around Halle's age. My mom was such a good sport climbing through all of the tunnels and things for the kids with Halle. It was so much fun to watch Halle having such a good time and us doing something for her with all that's gone on with Lily. Thanks Mom for being here- we love you so much!








And Lily continues to be a great baby. She's looking more and more like Halle did. I've resolved the fact that both of our children look nothing like me! She actually was scheduled to arrive today! It's so weird to think about if today was her birthday. I'm soooooo glad she came when she did. And I'm so thankful that you would never know she was 3 weeks early- she was a big girl and perfectly healthy! Her big sister loves her very much and always wants to put a pacifier in her mouth!