Blake and Larissa (and the girls of course!)

So this week, we will attempt to get our house here in Houston ready to sell, which simultaneously trying to buy a house in Pittsburgh.  For the house here, that process includes a lot cleanup, fix up, paint, power washing, and staging.  No stress.  For the house in Pittsburgh, that includes making a lower than asking offer and holding our breath that the family there is willing to accept it.  What can go wrong?  And Grace and Ginny have their first soccer games of the season on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. And a going away happy hour at Simmons for Blake.  I am hyperventilating already…

Christmas has come and gone in a flash.  We had Christmas morning at our house with just the girls before heading over to Grammy and Pops’ house.  For our “third Christmas” we headed to Athens to Mimi and Pappy’s house.

For Christmas at the house, the girls were excited and woke up at 6:30 to see what Santa had brought them.  For Grace the big gifts were a cat calendar (that she had previously thrown a fit over a few months back when I didn’t let her buy it then), American Girl items for the girl of the year “Grace,” and a new bike – complete with handlebar brakes and a three gears. This last one is the big winner, as we have been out riding every spare moment of the day.

For Ginny, the big items were American Girl items like sister, a Boo dog (stuffed animal), and scooter. She was a little disappointed over Grace’s bike, because she felt like Grace would go too fast for her to keep up with (which is true) and Grace was only too excited to prove.  😦

For Emery, the gifts included a scooter as well (smaller version than Ginny’s), a Doc McStuffins doctor’s office (big play center) with a Lambie from the show.  This seems to be the big winner.

The all got a ton of little games and stocking stuffers – way too much for them and something to remember for next year.

Here are some pictures to remember the craziness:

The week in review (with pictures!):

We started out Monday morning with a private swim lesson for Ginny. She was fired up and ready to go. And she did great!  I was hoping that a year would make a big difference with her “getting it” and it did. And Emery was a dream watching big sister and the older ladies at the gym do water aerobics. 🙂

After swim, we got the car washed and headed to the book store. It was supposed to rain but it ended up being sunny and nice. The girls love the Thomas the Train table and of course we were able to find some books that we couldn’t live without. 

Not much else for Monday. Tuesday was Grace’s class field trip to the Natural Science Museum. We got to see a butterfly movie on the IMAX and then went to the butterfly atrium. Unfortunately it was pouring that day and the butterflies were in hiding. We were able to have a picnic lunch in the classrooms in the basement and then everyone headed back to school.  

Wednesday and Thursday were relatively boring – just gym and errands. I did get a cute picture of Emery and one of Christian’s, Tricia’s, Kerry’s and my car in the gym during a hail storm Thursday. It’s nice to have a crazy big gym sometimes. 

This is my first post from my phone!  I figured that it would be easier for me to update this site more if it were easier!  And it doesn’t get easier than sitting on the couch with my iPhone or iPad and adding a post! So here goes…

Here is our Easter recap.

The girls were off school, Blake was off work on Friday, and Blake’s parents were out of town, so we decided to make it a fun filled weekend for the girls.  We started off going to CrossFit Friday morning because they had a babysitter (maybe it wasn’t an all girls weekend!). Then we took them to breakfast at the Egg and I (IHOP) was too crowded! After that we took them bowling. They loved it!   

I loved Grace’s “victory” dance. 🙂

That evening we took them to a children’s Good Friday service at our church and then went out on a date night!  And that was just Friday!

Saturday started with an Easter egg hunt at the church. The actual “hunt” only lasted a few minutes but they had fun anyway. 

I love the last picture for two reasons: 1. The girls are all dressed alike and I am not sure how long that will last and 2. Emery is sitting down crying because she just wants to eat her kolache. 🙂

After the egg hunt, we came home and dyed eggs. We gave Emery a shot at it this year. She did great until she figured out the eggs would crack and there was stuff inside. 🙂 

  I took the two older girls to see a movie at the theater, “Home.”  Not my favorite, but it was cute.  That night we took it easy and got ready for church. 

Sunday, we were up bright and early hunting for eggs and looking through their baskets for what the Easter rabbit left them. We went to the 9:30 church service and then out to brunch! After that, we basically came home and passed out. Exhausting but fun!

I ordered the girls (all three) dresses from Zulilly. They ended up being the perfect twirly dresses for Grace and Ginny (Emery might need a few months). This picture was taken before church on Sunday in our driveway. I like how it captures the fact that they love to twirl, spin and dance all the time – never stopping. I also love their long crazy hair. The perfect combination of crazy and pretty.

And not to play favorites, here’s one of baby girl. I love this girl and I love the fact that she’s such a good eater. That’s right – she’s smiling about broccoli!

I am attempting to take an online photography class dedicated to capturing everyday moments with your kids. We have daily assignments for themes. Here are my posts for the week… Enjoy!

Monday:
Theme – Awake

 
Tuesday:

Theme – Wash

Wednesday:
Theme – Dine

Thursday:
Theme – Serve

Friday:
Theme – Rest

Saturday:
Theme – what you are doing at 10am

Well, after all the waiting (and weighting), our little girl is here! She made her grand entrance (with a little pitocin to get things going) on Tuesday, July 30th, weighing in at 8 pounds 3 ounces. The largest of the three and a week early!

Here are some pictures of the last five weeks to catch us up (and jog my memory!):

One of the very first pictures of little Ms Emery.  Already hollering.  🙂

The girls visiting in the hospital.  They were very patient and sweet with her.  And definitely interested in the big sibling cake they got!

Here she is back at home… with her eyes open!

Grace and Ginny posing with the Stork Big Sister signs in our front yard.

Grace’s first day of school and us carting the whole family.

A little sisterly love.

Finally, some smiles around 6 weeks!

So my new theory on keeping this blog current is to make shorter entries more frequently.  I would love to get to a once a week habit…especially before baby comes in August!  Yikes!

But for now, we are stuck playing catch up for the better part of the winter and spring (as it’s now April).

The big event for the New Year was our ski trip to Breckenridge.  This was our first year to take Ginny.  Couple that with being about 13 weeks pregnant and staying with four other families in a house, it made for a chaotic few days!  We all had a good time in the end, although I will say that taking a ski trip without skiing, sitting in the jacuzzi or having a glass of red wine at the end of the day, is not much fun.  😦  Plus Grace slipped getting out of the hot tub and cut her forehead and had to get 6 stitches over her right eye (the exact same place as Ginny’s cut, less than three months later).  Other than my belly-aching and Grace’s head wound trama, we had a great time visiting with friends and I think the girls really liked skiing.  Here are some pictures from the trip:

Ginny talked the ski instructor into letting her lovey ride with her during her ski lesson.  That’s “bunny” sticking out of her ski school vest.  🙂

Maddie and Grace were in the same ski school and did really well this year.  They got to ride the chair lift and do a run down the mountain this year!

Ginny learning how to do the “pizza” (to stop) and “the french fries” (to go).

The girls all bundled up (and stitched up, poor baby) ready for ski school.

Our next big adventure of the spring was the Houston Rodeo!  This year Grammy and Pops came with us (with Ava!) and we took the Metro Rail from downtown, after picking up Daddy, to Reliant.  It definitely took a while longer to get there and back, but it was worth it!  The girls loved the train and the walk from the Metro stop to the entrance was so short! It’s on the list for next year for sure.  Here are some pictures to highlight the trip:

Ginny and Ava in the petting zoo part.  They had baby goats, lambs, deer (which were super annoying and tried to eat all of our clothes), chickens and bunnies.  Ava and Ginny had a great time in there and were pretty brave considering most animals were as tall as they were!

Grace and Ginny in the Kid Zone area where they teach kids about farming and agriculture.  The rodeo does such a good job of catering to the little kids!

And no rodeo trip is complete without a pony ride or two.  Grace is an old pro at this now, as evident by her barely holding on, whereas Ginny has a death grip on the saddle horn.  🙂

The picture on the left is of Ms Moo, whom the girls loved.  The one on the right is Ginny and Grace eating their ice cream at the end of the day.  Matching pink cowgirl outfits were gifts from Grammy and Pops.  I bought the girls the boots and since this is our third rodeo to go to, I think we have pink boots in just about every size!

Next came Easter.  The girls had a great time at Grammy and Pops’ house hunting for Easter eggs.  Grace was sure this year we were going to trap the Easter Bunny in her trap that she laid out the night before (see picture below with the upside down green bucket and sign that says “Welcome to the Land of Carrots, I Love You).  She put a plate full of carrots under it to entice him.  🙂

Finally, Grace had her kindergarten field trip to the zoo a few weeks ago.  I was choosen as chaperone, but since the Mom to kid ratio was about 1 to 1, I didn’t do a lot of chaperoning.  The kids had a great time, but both Moms and kiddos were exhausted at the end of the day.  🙂

Grace and her group next to the Kimono dragon (this is the one animal that she “had to see” at the zoo… don’t ask me why).

Her teacher, Mrs. Pope, joined our group for a while before lunch.

I love this picture of the kids “reading” the map trying to decide where we were going next.

So that’s it for now.  Like I said earlier, I am aiming for smaller posts more often to stay current.  Wish me luck!