Remember When....Daddy Daughter Dance 2010

On February 6, 2010 Kate attended her first daddy daughter dance with Christopher. I must say that I fondly remember daddy daughter dances growing up and how special they made me feel. I think that every girl should have a solid relationship with her father. I want Kate to know how she should be treated, that she deserves to be loved forever flaws and all.....I had that with my dad and with my husband. :) Kate is a very lucky little girl to have so many positive role models in her life.

But I digress....I had been looking forward to this for months. Kate dressed in her prettiest dress and I did her hair in a very fancy "heart" hairdo. She kept saying "I so beautiful! Look! I Cinderyeya!" and she twirled about. Christopher dressed in a coordinating shirt and tie and went outside the door and knocked to pick her up. Is that someone knocking? Who is it? It's Prince Charming!!
Unfortunately, we were not on the ball enough to get her a corsage this year (hopefully next year though). Kate was so excited to go out with her daddy. I made sure they had their tickets, made them pose for pictures outside and then Kate's "date" escorted her to the "carriage", gently put her into her carseat and took her to the "ball". There was dancing and snacks and Kate enjoyed every minute with her daddy. Apparently, they spent a lot of time with her playing chase with him around the gym. (He was the monster trying to catch the princess). They both came home happy and I am so glad they got a chance to go. Here's to many more father daughter dances in the future!

Crazy Texas Weather

Today it was a beautiful day. Kids wore spring clothes to church. Short sleeves, sandals. We have windows in the house open and fans on. (We are still fighting against turning on the AC). However...a mere 3 weeks ago it was a VERY different story. We had SNOW! Not just a little bit of snow. We got about 6 inches of snow in Austin, Texas at the end of February!!! It was really unreal. The kids were ecstatic and immediately ran outside in whatever they could pull on to play in it. I let them go out poorly dressed because I was certain it wouldn't last long. I really liked Dallin's ensemble of t-shirt, pants, church coat, socks, and crocs....LOL Here is Kate in her jeans, t-shirt, Mary Janes, socks, winter hat, coat, and what's that peeking out? Of course.....her Easter dress she insisted wearing OVER her clothes! LOL
Boy, was I ever wrong. It snowed and snowed....big beautiful flakes for most of the day. The kids were in and out all day long. The dog, on the other hand, went out a couple of times, but was very happy to watch the kids from INSIDE the house. She did not enjoy the snow too much. What a weenie! Here the kids are defrosting after one of their MANY excursions. I got pretty good at having dry clothes and cocoa ready, redressing kids and getting them bundled under blankets!I don't know how many wet outfits we went through, but seeing that this NEVER happens here I didn't grouse too much about one day of 10 outfits, wet shoes, and crazy excited kids! After much pleading on their part (and waiting long enough to get enough snow), the kids finally convinced me to help them build a snowman. We did a pretty good job! It was definitely a Texas snowman because it had little pieces of grass and some of their outdoor toys and maybe a little dog poo sticking out of it (it got rolled up in the snow), but we were very proud. The kids were really good at rolling the snowballs around the yard until they got really big and they thought it was the coolest thing ever. Dallin was pretty good at it. Kate realized quickly that it made her hands cold and didn't want to be in the "hands on" part too much. Here is Dallin modeling our makeshift gloves. You can see them on his hands in the second rolling picture. Snow is COLD! Our hands needed something for protective snowman building gear. Yes....they are indeed dishtowels. No, they didn't have any. I really didn't think about needing them until this day. And yes....later I realized it would have been easier to use socks. LOL Hey, I panicked. It was SNOWING in TEXAS! After a few mishaps trying to stack our snowman, we got him built and we added a hat, some stick arms, a carrot nose, and grape eyeballs. I think Dallin went out later and added some grape buttons. It was a really fun day and a great memory. Texas weather....gotta LOVE it!!

Remember When.....Early January Sunday Photo Shoot

Here are a couple of pictures of the kids on Sunday in January looking all spiffed up. They look like they are in pain, but actually, they were saying "cheese!" The only way we could get them to hold still long enough for a picture was to have them hug. LOL Ironically, I think they wore almost the same outfits this week (but I didn't get a picture).
Kate ADORES this dress (and I must say I do too!) She calls it her "Cinderyelya pincess dress". She can hardly wait until Sunday comes around to wear it. She looks like a little china doll every time she does. What a cutie pie!

Macy the Magnificent

In case anyone missed the short reference in our Christmas posts......WE GOT A PUPPY!!! Yay! Actually, it was MY gift for Christmas. I love dogs (and animals in general).
Before we moved from Coalville, we actually had 2 dogs. One of those dogs, Tiny, we got as a puppy and raised to the age of 5 before we could not keep her. It is hard to explain to non-animal lovers that special bond you can get with a pet. Tiny was part of my heart and parting with her was simply devastating. After 3 years, I still think about her and would occasionally search for her just to see if someone was giving her away and we could take her back.
It took me a long time to feel ready to get another dog. I knew if we were going to get a family dog I wanted to do it in the next couple of years so that the kids and the dog would all leave home about the same time and leave me free to travel. This year was the year. We got Macy a few days before Christmas. I found her on Craigslist. Just a couple in South Austin who had 2 dogs (and now had 4 more!). Christopher contacted the landlord and made it happen. We were quickly on our way to pick out a new addition to the family.
We knew we wanted a female so that narrowed our choices to 3. The kids picked Macy right away. She let them "pick her up" (this term is used VERY loosely as the kids are still really young) and seemed very affectionate and not skittish. She WAS all white.....honey colored spots have since developed on her ears, and one right above her tail. She is a mixed mixed breed. Everyone who sees her thinks "lab" immediately, but I think she looks like the RCA dog or Wishbone. Actually her mom was a terrier/dachsund mix (12 lb) and her dad was a small border collie/lab mix (30 lb). The vet expects Macy to settle around 20 pounds. The last time we took her to the vet, she was 11 lb. She also has a somewhat long body (not terribly noticeable unless you know her family history).
She is very sweet and very smart. She bonded to our family very quickly and for a puppy is training rapidly and is much more calm and relaxed than I expected. (Don't get me wrong, she can still run around and be all crazy...she is still a baby....just for her age she is doing wonderfully). Does she get along with the cat? Yep, in fact Patch is THE BOSS! (another reason we wanted a puppy). The downside is, since the cat is her rolemodel she totally fights like a cat (swinging her paws at your face), sleeps in a cat bed, and does cat things. LOL Pretty funny!She does great going potty outside (as long as we take her when she whines right away) and really wants to please. She knows SIT very well and will even respond to the kids. I can also get her to do LAY DOWN, ROLL OVER, and SHAKE, but these will take more work before she does them readily for anyone giving the command. She loves to cuddle with anyone who will sit still or lay down with her. And she really loves running and playing with the kids. I really love watching Dallin run around the yard and giggle uncontrollably because she is running with him (or see him pretending with her). Here he is dressing her up as Super Spy Macy. Most of these pictures are older so she has grown since then, but you get the idea. We are happy to have her as part of our family!

Remember When....The Holiday Hair Massacre of 2009

This Remember when occurred December 5, 2009. I am just now able to bring myself to blog about it. LOL So, many of you are aware that I love love LOVE girling it up with my Kate (who is about as girly as they come). I have been doing her hair since she had enough to style and have often done some really fun and intricate dos with her. I even make her bows to match her outfits....exactly :) So, as her hair has grown I have gotten practically giddy with excitement over the new things we are able to do with it and how adorable she looks. Her hair was finally past her shoulders and looking especially cute about a week before her dance recital in December. In this picture, she had it all crimpy from french braids the day before and she was wearing the little peppermint bows I made her. Then...the unthinkable happened.
Dallin experimented with scissors and hair :( No, he did NOT have the decency to experiment upon his own head of cow-lick city hair.....he CUT OFF Kate's hair. I was sick that day and had lingered in bed as Christopher had said that he would take care of the kids. I woke up with a sick feeling in my stomach for a whole different reason when Kate walked in and said "I'm so pretty! Look Mommy! Dallin cut my hair!" I was furious and heartbroken. There was hair EVERYWHERE! I bawled and bawled as I scolded him for cutting anyone's hair or ANYTHING besides paper and her for LETTING him. (Seriously, the things she lets him do.....like a lamb to the slaughter) Apparently, he convinced her that grandpa and grandma would think she was even more beautiful if he cut her hair short. Once I started crying like a crazy woman, Christopher was up with a start and quickly gathering up the long pieces of hair all over the house for me to keep. Dallin was sent to his room for safekeeping (I did not DARE lay a hand on him because I was so upset) and Kate started to cry.
I called my mom (who does haircuts for Christopher and the kids) and through my sobs told her what happened and asked if she could come fix it. Kate looked like her head had been caught up in a fight with a weed whacker. It was level with her ears or slightly below in most areas, but it was way above her ear on one side. My mom came over right away and picked her up. Upon seeing her, she decided she needed to call in the professionals and she rushed Kate to the beauty shop. She told them it was a hair emergency and apparently, they dropped everything and 3 of them worked on Kate to salvage all they could of her hair. They were very sweet and understanding. They said it was a good thing her hair was so long as he had cut off sooo much. If it had been shorter, she would have had to have a boys haircut and it wouldn't have been able to be salvaged into a cute little girl do. Kate's hair turned out totally cute in her little bob (but I am still pining for it to grow back ASAP) and you can hardly notice the spot by the one ear where it is really short. All in all, it turned out ok. I am glad it was hair and it will grow back, but I hope it NEVER NEVER happens again.

Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight!

So, Kate is my clingy child. We put her to bed....she comes to our bed. We put her back...she comes back again. This can happen 3 or 4 times a night--every single night. In the morning, she still ends up in our bed 75% of the time and we have no idea how she got there. She has been sick for a couple of days so I have been taking her to bed with me. Well, today she missed her nap and had been sent to bed (twice) already. So....she carefully crept down the stairs and sat there. Within minutes she was falling asleep sitting right there on the stairs. I kept thinking that she would fall off any second. Christopher finally took pity on her and took her up to bed so she wouldn't fall asleep and fall down the stairs....LOL Enjoy the video! She's "not tired"!

Friends Forever

I just loved this picture of the cousins so much, I thought it should get its own post. I absolutely adore that our kids are growing up together. It is so much fun to see them grow and interact with each other. They fight. They love each other. They share. They steal toys. They clammer for attention. They kiss each other's boo boos. They antagonize one another. They encourage one another. Maddie is "one of the kids" now. She and Kate have actually been caught playing a few times without Kate being insanely jealous of Madison. Dallin still dotes over both girls and is very protective. He especially likes to "watch" Madison. I hope the cousins will always be close and a strong support for each other. Cute little stair steps!