Spring Break Fun

What a GREAT Spring Break we are having! Unfortunately haven't taken many pictures to chronicle our adventures. It started with a visit from Grana, Grandad, and Uncle Blake. We took a long walk to the new duck pond, smoked a chicken (thanks Jason!), attended Mass, had lunch and playtime at McDonalds on a rainy day, had yummy breakfasts and lots of laughter :)

The weather has been perfect since Monday. We have taken many walks, many trips to parks and many hours with the back door wide open. I love this time of year!

 

Whoa, I'm in need of some sun! But I looove cuddling with my little Caroline!

 

 

 

Lots of firsts for our 3.5 month old! First time in the Bumbo and first time in the stroller sans an infant seat!

 

 

Hallie and her patient, Caroline. This is a cute picture of them but what I cannot get over is Belle in the background!!! She was cold so she was sitting in the sunlight to warm up, haha! She looks like she is off praying in the corner, maybe we have ourselves a little nun to be!

 

 

Easter Dress sneak peak! We just got these in the mail from Gap and had to try them on to make sure they fit. I love that I can order the same size (4T) for both girls and they can just decide on a given day which color they feel like wearing! Some brands Hallie needs a 5T but its so much easier when you don't have to look at the tag before dressing them :)

 

 

Caroline 3 Months

Happy 3 months Caroline! You are the sweetest little girl and we adore you. You are still working on sleeping through the night. You tend to go for about a 4-5 hour stretch but then go right back to every 3 hours. You have an extra tough time sleeping on nights that you have a stuffy nose or lots of gas! You take more predictable naps now, about 3 a day. You are cooing up a storm and working on mastering tummy time :) You love to watch your sisters, they provide constant entertainment! Your cute little cheeks keep growing, they look as if they are about to fall off!

On Trend

Finally got some good pictures of the older girls in their teal skinny jeans! Now to get some with me in my matching ones! We went to my goto spot, the backyard by the fence. Not because we have a beautiful fence but becuase I love the natural light and the uncluttered backdrop :)

Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day! This year, Aunt Cat and Hallie made shirts for each girl for Valentines Day. The girls loved wearing them to school. Lots of love and lots of sweets were enjoyed this week!

PJ Photoshoot

Just having fun in our PJ's before our weekly movie night!

Hallie's Birthday 4 Years Old!

At this age, kids talk about their birthday for weeks ahead of time and weeks after. To say that Hallie was excited to celebrate is an understatement. It was challenging to plan a party with newly going back to work and three little ones at home but with the help of family we did it and had a blast! The moonwalk with built in slide was a hit and Hallie loved having her close friends and her new friends from preschool all together for a day of fun!

Caroline's Baptism

Caroline and her Godfather, Uncle Blake, on her Baptism Day 1.12.13

 

Before the ceremony, "I'm ready for this!" - Caroline

 

 Good thing we took some pictures before the ceremony because after the ceremony, lets just say she was a liiiitle fussy!
 

 

 Sign of the cross with Holy oil.
 

 

"Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
 

  Each daughter with their Godparent! Aunt Christy with Hallie, Aunt Steph with Annabelle and Uncle Blake with Caroline. :)
 

 

Smiling Baby!

Caroline has graced us with many smiles in the past couple days! Just talk baby talk to her in a high pitched voice and the smiles abound! In other news, she is going through a growth spurt (which is typical at 6 weeks) and wants to eat every 2 hours, yikes!

Comparing Sisters

I don't know why I have this facination with comparing the three girls but if you are interested too, you'll like this post!

 

 

Each girl at one month. Caroline on top, Annabelle bottom left and Hallie bottom right :)

Caroline One Month

We love you sweet Caroline, happy one month! We are looking forward to seeing you grow, you have blessed us so much already :)

Conroe Christmas

After a great Christmas in Dallas, we headed straight to Conroe late Christmas Day in the freezing cold and arrived with fresh snow on windshield!

 

Here are some shots from our second "Christmas Morning" :)

 

The girls had been wanting piggy banks for their new room. (Later they also got cute cross banks from Aunt Cat where they can save up money to donate each week at church) So let the saving begin!

Helping Gramps open his gift, a new picture frame for work!

 

Now Grandma's turn, a new grandmother's bracelet with the girls initials! (We left plenty of space for cousins, whenever you are ready Aunt Christ and Uncle Ian, wink ;))



 

Of course, Caroline got passed around, got to spoil them while you can :)

 

Caroline is getting big and establishing her own look :) 

 

White Christmas

After the dissapointment of having to skip Christmas in Alexandria, we were super excited to pack up and head to Dallas the night before Christmas Eve. We got to have a quick visit with our friend Eleanor who gave us these super cute matching PJs for Christmas morning!

 

 

The Night Before Christmas

Grana and Granddad took the girls to Bass Pro for a ride on the reindeer carousel!

 

 

We didn't just dream of a white Christmas, we got it! The girls are all bundled up and ready to play. Annabelle lasted longer than Hallie because of Hallie's lingering fever but they were both so excited to see snow :)

 

 

 All dressed up for Christmas Mass at St. Ann.

 

New Traditions

Growing up, my family and I (Amanda) traveled to Alexandria, LA each year to spend Christmas. We adopted a tradition of letting Santa know that he needed to come a few days early to visit us in Dallas before we packed up the car and headed to LA to see family. So we would read the Christmas story from the bible and then go look at Christmas lights the night before our road trip. While we were gone, Santa would visit! Then we headed to Alexandria where there would eventually be 13 grandchildren (10 of them girls!). We have such fond memories playing together and sleeping like sardines on Memaw and Pawpaw’s living room floor. Now there are 16 great grandchildren (13 of which are girls!). Needless to say, I was super bummed when Hallie woke up with a fever the day before we were supposed to leave and I had to accept that we would not be able to travel to Alexandria this year for Christmas.

 

Instead of sulking all day about not being able to go, Jason inspired me to think positive and establish our own family traditions right here at home with just our little family J Here are four we came up with and we hope to add more in the future years!

 

New tradition #1: Playroom Clean-Up: We decided that since we were about to get plenty of new toys for Christmas, we should go through our playroom and identify every toy we rarely or no longer play with. That way we can save those toys for Caroline or give them away to a family that might need them. We evaluated the “fun-factor” of each toy and let the girls keep only their favorites. Now the playroom is clean, organized, and ready for some new toys!

New tradition #2: Acting out the Nativity: Thanks to my good friend Lindsay, we own a super cute nativity scene and a board book called “The Story of Christmas”. While mommy read the book aloud, the girls moved the figurines around to act out all the parts of the story of Jesus’ birth. It was super easy and a great way for the girls to realize the reason for the season and be a part of it!

 

New tradition #3: Build a Gingerbread House with Daddy the Architect: While mommy took care of Caroline, Hallie and Annabelle built a gingerbread house with daddy. They loved decorating their own parts of the house and taking ownership in them. Then daddy put the house together making sure it was nice and sturdy (and while telling Belle every 5 seconds to stop eating the candy pieces) and then they stood back to admire their work!

 

New tradition #4: Advent Calendar: We started this one on December 1^st. Each night (that we remembered to ;)) we sat around the living room as a family, read something from the daily readings (usually the Psalm) and then went to each person and said aloud what we were thankful for. Next, one girl would take baby Jesus out of one pocket and the other daughter would put him back in the next pocket. (what are we going to do when there are three girls to fight over Jesus!?)