I caught a few

It's becoming a little bit easier to catch pictures of Kate.  Not a lot easy, but a little. :-)  She can be bribed or entertained to look at the camera.  It just usually involves a game or a threat to "get you!".  After they hunted eggs, I was able to snap a few of her in her Easter dress.

Easter Sunday

David started the morning with what has become a tradition of leading worship with his team for the sunrise service at church.  I skipped out this year - I decided getting 2 babies up for a service outside with no childcare *might* not be my best idea. :)    We went back as a family for our usual service, then followed with a great lunch & hanging out with the Mitchell family.  

Our Family - everyone was ready for lunch & a nap!  But at least we caught one picture!!

Maybe she does look like me...maybe?  a little?

 After naps, the girls got to have their egg hunt...

Hannah was sleeping, so she missed out on the fun, but Kate really had a great time this year!

sweet cousins - Kate & Adrianna

Glad to catch a good pic of the three of us...if only we'd had H!

A great day spent with family!

Easter Fun

My parents came to town on Thursday night to enjoy some of our fun Easter plans with us!  

On Friday morning, we headed over to the Mitchell's (my in-laws) pool.  Kate had lots of fun last year, but is loving swimming even more this year.  She is getting more adventurous & even starting to get around a little by herself!

look at that huge smile!

so fun!  

lunch on the porch with cousins

snuggling with a sister

After nap time, we headed back over for dinner & I tried to get some pics of my mom with the girls...

at least they're looking at the camera

she loves her Nana :)

This was Mandy & Ryan's first time to come since baby Regan was born & we loved getting to finally meet her!

Saturday morning we headed up to the church for their Easter egg hunt.  They did a great job of walking you through some different stations where they told the story of different events throughout the life of Jesus through different people playing the characters.  It ended with Mary at the empty tomb where we all got to throw confetti & blow our horns to party & celebrate that Jesus had risen!

Afterwards, they got to hunt for eggs...

After the egg hunt, there were some different things for the kids to do.

milking a cow with Jackson

I tried to get her to pet the ducks.  Not interested!

she was a fan of the chicks though!

Poppa & Hannah ready for their naps!!

My parents headed back that evening to spend time with my brother on Easter Sunday & to help at their church.  It was a great time with family celebrating our risen Savior!

4 Month Portraits

I thought I had taken another set of portraits this month, but I guess I just planned on it and it never happened...oh well.  Happy 4 Months, Baby girl!

Happy 4 Months, Hannah!

We went for Hannah's "4 Month" check-up a couple weeks ago. My dr. follows a little bit different of a schedule (in order to avoid unnecessary dr's office visits), and so it was actually when she was 3 1/2 months.

Here are her stats:

Weight: 15lbs 5 oz - (92%)

Height:  26 1/2 in - (off the charts!!)

Big girl!!!

This month, Hannah:

--laughed

--started dropping her "dreamfeed" (10:30pm). I NEVER woke Kate up for a feeding, but with Hannah I just decided if I was still up at 10:30 I would go ahead and get her, feed her and put her right back down. Some nights though, I just put her to bed at 8:30, and don't hear from her again til 8:00 the next morning! I'm sure we'll drop it all together very soon!

--rolled over - back to tummy. I was so surprised!  This is about a month earlier than Kate

--is so, so smiley! It's like she's just waiting for you to look at her so she can smile at you! I think the look in her eyes looks like she's about to wink at you.

--stopped sleeping swaddled. She started getting herself to her stomach - inside the swaddler! - and since that's super unsafe I took her out! With Kate it was a very big transition - days of learning how to sleep again, but Hannah just had a few restless naps, then she had it down!

--sleeps on her tummy

--sits well in the bumbo seat

--growing in her interest in Kate - just watches her and smiles!

--doesn't sleep *as easy* in the car seat. She still does it, but has a little harder time falling & staying asleep. Is still mostly happy even if she's awake in the car though. I am aware that I am spoiled with my chlidren who travel so well!!

--still on the same basic daily schedule. Eats every 3-4 hours. Usually 3, but sometimes stretches. Maybe the 4-hour schedule is coming this month?

--sucks her thumb. breaks my heart. I realize how little control I have over children & so I love the idea of being able to take a pacifier away when I'm ready. Can't take a thumb away...

She took a paci for the first three months, but as soon as she started sleeping unswaddled, she immediately snuck that thumb in. I'm still trying to convince her to take a paci, but I think I'm losing. It definitely is nice not to get up in the night to give her a pacifier though!

Dream Come True!

Having grown up in Central Texas, taking yearly bluebonnet pictures was a way of life.  Living in East Texas though, this is very hard to come by!  I have been dying to find some this year, and couldn't talk David into driving 30 minutes out of the way for them (I don't understand why not!).  

Well, after leaving College Station, and the DFW area, I gave up hope for this year.  On our way home from DFW, we had to make a stop for Hannah to eat.  We happened to be in Terrell, so we pulled into the outlet mall for David to do a little Gap shopping.  He found quite a bit apparently, because I finished feeding H, and he wasn't even checking out yet.  I decided to head across the interstate for a Sonic run, and as I turned onto the feeder road - guess what I saw - BLUEBONNETS!!!

I almost talked myself out of it - I was by myself, 2 kids, there wasn't even a shoulder on the side of the road, Kate didn't even have pants on and is not the most compliant pictures taker - but after wanting them so badly, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity!  

So,  with the promise (read: bribe) of a sucker if she would smile for a few pictures, I pulled over, wedged Kate down in the flowers so you can't tell she's missing some pants & snapped a few!

And, I couldn't leave Hannah girl out! It was so sunny she couldn't even open her little eyes!

I am SO GLAD I stopped!  Bluebonnet pictures 2011 - check!

Always feels like going home...

David updated his Facebook status on Friday to say this:

"Headed to College Station this weekend to celebrate Bethany Mitchellgetting her aggie ring! Whoop! Always feels like going home..."

I couldn't agree more. That line played in my head all weekend. As we pulled into town, it felt like I could just take a deep breath & relax. Like I was home.

We had such a great weekend - filled with friends - old and new, Aggie rings, ring dunkings, good food, and lots of great family time.

We pulled into town just in time to see Bethany get her ring!

I took this picture because I was thinking about how different our lives are from when we used to walk this campus. You know, we've gone from carefree people to an old guy pushing a double stroller! ha!

While David, his parents & Bethany went into a very crowded building to get her ring, I hung with the girls in an open field.

Hannah Lynn - Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of '33

Me & my girls :-)

Kathryn Elizabeth - Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of '31

At least one was looking and smiling - right?

Whoop!!

The next morning we met the Coleman's for an old tradition on Saturday morning breakfast! They were also in town to celebrate - Jackie got her ring too! We used to meet them every Saturday when the girls were still living at home, so we picked it up again! This time we skipped out on the biscuits & pancakes and headed to Los Nortenos (David used to go once a week in college) in downtown Bryan to enjoy their HUGE breakfast tacos.

bigger than David's hand!

Saturday afternoon we got to have lunch with Jeremy, Niki & Cody Lewis - I forgot to take any pictures - but it was one of the highlights of the trip for us. We worked with/for Jeremy (he is the youth minister at Central Baptist) while we were in college. Such a great time of catching up & reminiscing!

That evening we headed over to catch Kate Coleman's ring dunking! She did a great job of downing her pitcher of tea & only had to let a little fall out ;-). We were so glad to be able to be a part of it!



And a trip to College Station is not complete without this stop...

SUCH a great weekend. I can't wait to go back!