Christmas is coming!

So it is only November but the weather outside kept us in and why not drag out some holiday dresses and take some pics...

Who is that under Santa's hat?

Miss Katherine Grace, if you please

First Christmas, first dumb santa hat

The Grinch

The Angel

Good AM pics

Pictures from this morning before Kate went to school. Lauren seems to feel much better and her smiles are back (she is also sleeping through the night...finally!)

Thanksgiving Weekend

It is hard for me to believe that this time last year Lauren was not here and Kate had only six teeth. This year was not what we expected it to be but we made the best of it(notwithstanding the game on Friday...)

Uncle B came into town Wednesday night so the girls got to spend some time with him before we left on Thursday morning.

We made it to Dallas in a little under 6 hours(traffic was awful but the girls did amazingly well). We had dinner and watched the Cowboys at Nana and Bieboo's house. They also posed for Christmas pictures with the girls.


We spent the night with Ted and Stephanie. What is missing from the blog is pictures of Kate and Rex(their one and half year old son). They were so good together and in the end, very affectionate. On our next trip to Dallas, Kate may leave with a ring on her finger....

Sadly, Lauren woke up with a fever Thursday night. She and I were up most of the night and felt like it would not be wise to keep her around other kids. So Friday morning we loaded up the car and headed home. So sad to leave but comforted because we will be back in two weeks for a baby shower.

Lauren is still not herself and I will be taking her to the doctor on Monday.

Pre-Thanksgiving Lunch

Usual Saturday lunch had some extra special guests this week. Aunt Betsy and Granny drove in from Houston and cousins Sarah and Rebecca also joined us. Some pics from lunch:

Lovin' the frijoles

Cousin Sarah

Aunt Betsy and Rebecca

Showing off her "two-ness"

Holiday Spirit

Ok so it is not even Thanksgiving but we are getting into the holiday spirit. The girls and I started baking(mainly because of an early Christmas gift(Baking by Dorie Greenspan) from Queenie became too much a temptation not to bake something from it!). Some pics of the brownies that Kate made as well as her little helper.

HO HO HO

The Brownie

Mystery solved-Brownies will make the 2 year old smile!

The critic-post sample...

Weekend with Aunt Funny-the lost pictures

Aunt Funny came to visit two weeks ago and yet no pictures of her visit appeared on the blog. It was a total goof on my part so without further ado, here are some great pics of her and the girls!

The girls

Playing in Kate's kitchen

Aunt Funny LOVED Kate's food

No pictures, I am 2

Did someone say Guns Up?

Aunt Funny passing on her secrets to Kate

Santa!

Made it to see Santa today in great dresses from Granny! One of the girls was not too pleased to see him...in fact, she nearly shut off circulation to Grandad's finger as she got close to him. Lauren, on the other hand, took it all in stride.

Cooking with Mom

We needed a re-stock on the freezer of good go-to casseroles. Kate got so excited when I told her we were going to "cook". She immediately wanted to put on her apron and "mom apron on" too. Here is the scene:

THE chef

1/4th cup flour

Stirring

The critic (aka El Gordo)

She loved Kate's Chicken and Biscuits (see below)

Lauren is not only eating chicken but she eats most of my plate at Luby's(fish, mac n cheese, roll)and elsewhere. Last night she grabbed Kate's cup with a straw and drank most of the water inside(Kate is still not used to cups with straws and we only really started using them with her this summer...). Today Lauren refused the jarred food(or she ate it and then sprayed it back at me) and wanted my oatmeal and Kate's waffles instead. For lunch, I fed her more chicken and split pea soup. Eight months old yesterday-how different a second child can be!

Infirmary

So both girls had colds all week-runny noses and a little bit of congestion. We thought it would get better but it hasn't, so today we took them to the doctor. Kate has an ear infection in both ears so she got drugs(yea!) but Lauren just has a cold(no drugs-boo).

The biggest news of the day was Lauren's weigh-in. Her last one was Sept 12th and she weighed 13 pounds 3oz. Today she was 18 pounds 5 oz...

Hefty Hefty Hefty

To "Houstonish"

We took off for "Houston-ish" early Thursday morning. We were set to meet Granny at 11:30 in Brookshire at Brookwood-so we never actually made it inside the city limits but we were close...sort of. ANYWAY it was a great place to meet up with Granny and have lunch at Charlie's. Here are some pics taken during lunch (and yes that is a picture of both girls, together, smiling at the camera at the same time!)

Four Generations!!

The Girls

A girl and her Queenie

"I'm Two"

Halloween Day 2

Kate decided that once the sun went down, it was time to grab a bag and head out to trick or treat (or go to the grocery-she answered yes to both when we asked where she was going). We think candy, from whatever source, was her ultimate destination. (note the shoes)

Out of Candy...

Gotta go....

Halloween

What a difference a year makes! Last year, Kate could not walk up to any doors to trick or treat(she still was not walking at all) and there was no Lauren. Now we have both things and are so thrilled about each! Halloween pictures were tough with a two year old who hates having her picture made. Both girls were cats-a leopard and a tiger-grrr

Matching Outfits(and runny noses) to start the day


HALLOWEEN NIGHT

Grandad and Kate (pre-treating/post costume war)

"Queenie see my tail? See what they made me wear tonight?!?!"

The Tail

Brayden and Kate jumping off some candy early

Kate and her boyfriend Brayden last year(2005)

The Tiger (Grrr)

Going Trick or Treating with Dad and Grandad