My Girls Are Loved!

We lucked out BIG time this year!  Everyone that we invited to celebrate with us was able to come!  Such a blessing to have our house filled with people who love our girls!

Nana & Poppa came from Austin

We LOVE having the Wilson family back in Longview!

My sister-in-law & I.
We missed them at last year's party since they were about to head up the next weekend for Hannah's birth, so it was super fun to have them in for the weekend!

The Bergmans

David's Aunts (Pazzie & Susie) even were in town for the weekend & were able to come with his Grannie!
Such a great surprise!

The Coleman family - missing Jackie!

The Magans

I missed pictures of the Johnsons (young & not quite a young), Molinas & my brother's whole family, along with David's family & the Rectors' picture was way too bright, but we LOVED having all of them as well!  Thank you so much friends & family for loving my girls.  My cup is full.

Kate's 3rd Birthday!

Kate's actual birthday was on Monday, the 12th & we had such a fun day!  This was the first year she really got that it was her birthday and she was super into it!

We started the day with some birthday pancakes.  She's super into cooking with me, so she helped out.

Even though Daddy had already gone to work, he got to swing by and Happy Birthday with us!

Nana called for a little Happy Birthday "Face Time".  Kate thought it only appropriate to talk on her new tricycle from Nana & Poppa.

Nana told her to go check the mail...

There was a card!

...with money in it!  Kate's first money!!

I'm missing the pictures, but after lunch we headed over to Target to get to shop with her new money!  She had SO MUCH FUN! She shopped for a wand and necklace in the dollar spot, then headed over to the candy aisle for some Mike & Ikes.  She loved pulling the money out of her pocket to hand to the cashier.  Such a big girl!  Thanks Nana & Poppa for a fun idea!

That evening we headed over to Kate's favorite - Chick Fil A, with some of her favorite friends - Ali, Peyton, Drue, & baby Brody!

We had a great time getting to visit with Kristin & Connor while the kids played.

We ended up not getting to open her gifts until the next day.

She loved her new "Bears" movie,

Sesame Street matching game,

and best of all - art supplies!  Especially the paint!

She RAN over & said, "Oh, thank you Daddy!".  So cute!

I'm sure it's only going to get better from here - it is such a blast having her be so excited about all of it!

Party Details

As usual, I had fun getting to plan and create for the girls' birthday party.  Here's a little glimpse of the details.

We had a great time celebrating both girls, and I do think we managed to pull off a double party without too much chaos.  I'll be back to blog the fun from the party, but until then, I'll leave you with this little preview....

Hannah's Update

I finally posted Hannah's 11 Month Update.  Yes, I'm three weeks late.  But, let's face it...if I actually posted one on time you might just fall out of your chair from being so surprised.  And we don't want that. So, you're welcome.

Happy 11 Months, Hannah!

Decorating the Tree

Between half of our lights being broken when we pulled them out this year & a busy schedule, it took us a few days to finally get the tree fully decorated this year

 We let Kate do all the non-breakable decorating this year.   As with all things this holiday season, she was very interested.  I loved not giving her direction & seeing her ideas come to life.

which ended in MANY ornaments on the same branch :-)

Playing in the Rain

My girl loves to play in the rain.

I love watching her search for the best puddle and jump as high as she can.

 Just to see how big of a splash she can make.

I love watching her get wetter & wetter.

 And skipping on the reminders to watch out for the mud.

Because, playing in the rain - it's not about staying clean or being careful.  

It's just about having fun.

Thankful Tree Wrap-Up

I am waiting on some pics from my brother-in-law to wrap up our Thanksgiving posts before I move on to December & all the fun that that will be.

In the meantime, I thought I'd give a little update on our Thankful Tree project.  I loved doing this.  I don't know that I'd call it a complete success as far as daily completion by the whole family (ahem...David), BUT personally, I loved the reminder to stop daily & write a specific thing I was thankful for that day.  

I also really enjoyed asking Kate what she wanted to thank God for.  It was so fun hearing her little answers.  A couple times I had to give her a few ideas to choose from, but usually she was very specific.  Juice, "weegurt"(yogurt), and Bethany Bergman made the list.  Bethany was a funny story - Kate had a major crush on Trevor as a one-year-old, but as she moves into her threes, her love for Bethany far shadows her previous crush.  She is always excited when Bethany comes over, and the day I asked her what she was thankful for & she told me Bethany, I asked, "And Trevor, Jackson, & Baby Jordan?"  She replied, "No, just Bethany!"  ha!  Love this girl!

 We thanked God for jobs to provide for our family, Kate FINALLY pooping in the potty, Sonic drinks, that "thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not", friends who know us without us having to explain ourselves, and so much more.

 I look forward to this tradition in our family.  I will love getting to see this tree become filled each year as my children grow (and my husband remembers! hehehe!), and to hear what they are thankful for, but mostly for me to have the chance to stop & really think about it.

Our hearts are filled with gratitude, and we look forward to moving into the season of celebrating our Savior's birth.