Kathy & Tony’s Big Move!

This past weekend Kathy & Tony moved into their new house in Allen.  I am so excited because they are now only 20+/- minutes away instead of the 45 minutes they had been.  They had a lot to do so Nana & I watched the the boys at our house while we left Tony, Paw Paw & Lance to deal with the small little task of unpacking several rooms that looked a little something like this:

I remember a scene like this all too well since we did the same thing just a couple of years ago.  I remember thinking that we would NEVER get everything unpacked.  But we did and I know Kathy & Tony are waiting for the moment they unpack that very last item from that very last box…pure joy!

Congratulations Kathy & Tony on your new home!! It’s beautiful!!

Valentine’s Parties

After uploading the pictures from my camera the other night I realized I never posted about the girls parties.  They were both supposed to be help on the Friday before Valentine’s, but because of the “Great Blizzard of 2010” {Ha!} they were postponed.  Gracie’s was first but since it got moved to a Tuesday I couldn’t go because that is Gwynie’s day to stay home and due to the tight quarters the school asks that no siblings attend. But here are a couple pictures of all the sweet valentines she got from her friends:

Gracie had 2 favorite valentines.  The first was the “Totally Awesome” {Her words} giant Fun Dip and funny looking cat one {I prefer the Gracie version}.

It was also spirit night at Chick-fil-a.  Gracie LOVES spirit night so even though we already had dinner plans we stopped by and grabbed a milkshake.  The night before Gracie rolled ankle while she was playing in the living room.  She had been doing all sorts of gymnastics moves and I told her she was going to get hurt so she stopped.  She asked if it was okay to twirl around and I said sure…and that’s when she hurt her ankle {of course}.  Thankfully, she is all better now.

So on Wednesday it was time for Gwynie’s party.  Her teachers made and Gracie decorated the cutest little valentine mailbox made of paper plates.  They also had a big surprise for the parents.  They had made them a special valentine’s flower pot.  Gwynie was so proud of her little pot.  She had been telling us for a week that she was making us a surprise but she couldn’t tell us what it was…she kept it a secret the whole time.

This cute little pillowcase was their craft for the party.  One of the moms prepared it all through out the week and sent it home with them after the party.  It was a sweet little party and Gwynie had a great time!

Happy St. Valentine’s Day!

We had a fun filled Valentine’s weekend. We started things off on Friday with one last afternoon of playing in the snow before it melted.  All the snow made me think back to the last time I remember it snowing this much {well, it’s never snowed THIS much in Dallas} and it was several years ago on Valentine’s day.  It was actually Gracie’s first Valentine’s Day back in 2004 {I think we got 6 inches of snow} when she was about 10 months old.  I wasn’t blogging back then {didn’t even know what blogging was} so I thought I would share a few pictures.

 

Ok, so back to the present.  Saturday we got a babysitter for the girls and Lance & I went to the Vow Renewal ceremony at church and then had a fun dinner with friends.  As a Valentine’s gift we got each of the girls a new princess dress-up outfit, let them rent videos and to be festive we went to Papa Murphy’s and got them a heart shaped pizza for dinner {which they loved}.  Of course I had to snap a picture of it!

During our dinner out we got a call from the babysitter.  After the girls had finished their dinner and had eaten about 1/4 of the pizza, Marty decided to pull it off the counter and eat the rest.  I think she was relieved when we told her not to worry because he does stuff like that all the time {I don’t know how it was physically possible for him to eat it all, but he managed}. 

Sunday Gwynie wasn’t feeling 100% in the morning so Lance stayed home with her while Gracie and I went to church.  After lunch, Lance went back up to church for a meeting and when he came home he brought each one of his girls Valentine’s flowers!!

The girls were so excited to get flowers!  They probably get that from their Mama.  I LOVE to get flowers, who doesn’t.  I completely understand why some say that they are a waste of money, I mean they don’t last very long.  But they do last a lot longer that chocolate would last in my house and I ADORE them for the few days they are around!

With Gwynie feeling much better in the afternoon, we finished off the day with a round of Putt-Putt golf and dinner.  Since Monday was a school holiday we let the girls stay up late watching videos and playing Wii.  It was a great way to spend the day!

Daddy Daughter Dance 2010

This was Lance and Gracie’s 2nd Daddy Daughter Dance.  Last year was such a success that they have been counting down the days until they could go again. This year the theme was ‘Alice in Wonderland’ {the original Disney version not Tim Burton style…too scary}.

I don’t want to really label her just yet, but if I had to pick I would say that Gracie leans more towards a tomboy than a girlie girl EXCEPT when it comes to fancy dresses.  She’ll almost always pick shorts over a dress, but when she does pick a dress…the poofy-er the better. We went a few days before to find Gracie her “Big Poofy Dress” {as she called it}.  The selection was definitely limited since the dance is such a huge event for the area…especially Gracie’s age bracket.  We tried on several dresses at several different stores, but we couldn’t find one with enough “twirl  factor”.  Each dress got the “twirl test” in the dressing room, but only one made the cut.   {I REALLY enjoyed picking out the dress with her…she was so into it this year which made is so much fun!}. Here are a few shots of Gracie all dressed up for the dance:

    Testing out the twirl one last time before going downstairs to see Daddy!

Gracie started the tradition last year of keeping her dress a secret from her Daddy.  She loves to get all dressed in her room and have Lance wait at the bottom of the stairs for the big reveal.  I really treasure the pictures I have from both years where I have been able to capture their reactions. So sweet!

 

   

Showing Daddy how awesome her dress looks when it twirls {her words not mine}.

Just like last year Gwynie was such a good sport about the fact that Sissy was going to the dance and she wasn’t {I was worried about how she would handle it this time}.  She never once said that she wanted to go too, but just talked about how fun it will be when she gets to go with Daddy next year {we can’t wait}.  She did have one request…she wanted to take a picture with Daddy & Sissy. 

Gwynie doesn’t know it yet but we decided to do something just for her that she will LOVE! In a couple of weeks we are going to take her to go see Sesame Street Live…she’s going to be THRILLED!

Gracie and Daddy had a great time and had a blast dancing!  They said it was SUPER crowded but she did managed to see a few friends from church and from school. They took a break from the crowd so Daddy could take a few pictures on his phone of Gracie with some of the characters. 

     

Tweedle Dee {who works in the Fun Club at the FAC} told Gracie and Daddy that Mommy needs to go to the gym more often {I know, I know} because he has missed hanging out with them.  HA!

So Daddy Daughter Dance 2010 was a huge success and we are all really looking forward to next year’s dance!

No Snowflake Ever Falls in the Wrong Place

For the last two days we have been living in the middle of a winter wonderland!  When I look outside it’s hard to believe that we are still in Texas!

We are right in the middle of the most snow EVER recorded for Dallas.  DFW airport reported that a total of 12.4 inches of snow fell…smashing the previous record of just over 7 inches. To say that the girls were excited is the understatement of the century.

I woke up about 5:30 Thursday morning {to check the weather and to see if school was canceled or delayed…which is wasn’t} and the snow had just begun to fall.  It was beginning to accumulate on the grass.  By the time I drove Gracie to the bus stop at 7:30 we had a good 2-3 inches on the ground.  Going to school wasn’t such a bummer for Gracie because she got to have a snowball fight with her friends at the bus stop {not many kids from Texas get to say they have done that}. Gracie was off to school but Lance, Gwynie and I stayed close to home and watched as the snow began to pile up and waited for Gracie to get home so we could all go play in it. Finally, it was time to go pick Gracie up at the bus stop.  It was really coming down by then, but I knew she wouldn’t want me to pick her up in the car so I walked down to get her so that she could play in the snow all the way home.

  

We got the girls all bundled up {to the best we Texas folk know how to anyway} and it was finally time to play is all that SNOW! 

Ok…so…I took a total of 350+ pictures of all the snowy goodness.  That is WAY too many I know, but I just couldn’t help myself and I figured this might be the most snow we will ever see in Dallas.  Don’t worry though, I am not going to post all 350 pictures.  Just a “few” of my favorites…

   

   

   

 

  

  

   

It snowed the whole time we were out playing and even after we went in for the evening it snowed and it snowed and it snowed.

We woke the next morning to all new snow {I believe the snow savvy call this “fresh powder”}. So I have a fresh batch of pictures to go with it!  The first day we built a snowman, made snow angels and threw a snowball or two.  The second day was a bit more…well…intense.  Everyone was fair game for the snowball fight {even the lady behind the camera} and it was a blast!

   

 

  

 

 

  

 

  

  

 

    

Okay, so that was a lot of pictures…but in my defense, it was a lot of snow!  We had a wonderful time and are so thankful that we were able to spend the last two days together in our very own winter wonderland!

The good thing about living in North Texas is that it does snow every once in a while, but the great thing about living in North Texas is that 2 days from now all this snow will be nothing more than a memory.  GOD BLESS TEXAS!