Catching up and Flashing Back

When Berk wanted to put on this dress (a hand me down from Elliott) I immediately remembered taking pictures of her in the same dress when she was 1 1/2 (November 2009) right after we moved in out on our driveway.  She got dressed and we headed outside for an updated shot.  She sure has grown! That's one thing that is pretty fun about having matching outfits for the girls, Berkley is now big enough to wear ones that E wore when she was a baby. So I have double pics of her in them.  I know I say it all the time, but time sure does fly by!

 The girls were way excited about Valentines Day and had lots of fun putting together goodie bags and cards for all their friends.

We took the kids out for a treat for being good (as far as we know) while we were on our cruise. We went to one of my favorite restaurants from when I was a kid. The Magic Time Machine. Its in Addison and has awesome themed booths with waiters that are dressed up.  We had Mario and he stayed in character using a super high voice (rather impressive) the whole time.  Berkley was so excited to see a bunch of princesses, they even got autographs.  She said it was almost as good as Disney World.  (A lot cheaper too!)

Before dinner we played upstairs in the arcade while we waited for our table. You can see how intrigued P was by the motorcycle game

 He was so excited to get a turn!

 My big boy!

 Berkley got tired of waiting and thought we should just eat right there. Luckily she found it was worth the wait!

 Valentines day the girls woke up to a surprise donut from Dunkin Donuts and a little treat.  My friend Laura made them the little place mats, aren't they cute?!

 Berk declared that it was the best Valentines day EVER!

 Berk at her class party, they sang a cute little song for us

 Blowing kisses

 We had E's class party next.  The kids LOVED this game. Took up way more time than I thought because they had so much fun with the chopsticks and hearts

 Berk was super impressed

 This is E with her good friend Evan. Pretty much my favorite picture ever of her. I guess maybe I should always have a cute boy for her to take pictures with......

 B liked hanging out with the big kids

 I almost didn't post this picture- I mean why does Berk look evil? I have never in my life seen that face. PRetty funny.

 Patton LOVES babies. He gets so excited when Eli comes over, he likes to give him kisses and hugs. (which is just giving head bumps basically).

 We had a baby shower for our good friends Terry and Emily- I went to high school with both of them. I've known Terry since we used to play the sax together starting in 6th grade.

 Most of the girls- we all went to high school together, with the exception of Jackie in the pink on the end, she married one of our high school guys- none of us are sure why ;-)

Since we have all been buddies for 10+ years I dragged out some of the old photo albums, so fun to look back on!

 The guys

 P money striking a pose

 Watch out Berkley there is a new popcorn bandit in town.  See this OLD POST HERE He kept grabbing huge handfuls of popcorn and shoving them in his mouth.  Choking Hazard...what?

He also liked to try to hand off popcorn to everyone else

 Our nice pallet on the floor for movie night



Our Vacation- Now we owe Grammy and Papa one

We just got back from a 5 day Carnival Cruise out of Galveston with our neighbors Adam and Rachel. It was a blast!  So nice to get away from everything and have some time together and with friends.  We were most excited about not having to pick up food off the floor for a whole 6 days/5 nights. Know who got to? Grammy! Thank you SO MUCH Grammy and Papa- Uncle J and Aunt Ray- Aunt Amanda and Uncle Brad. Without all of you this trip wouldn't have been possible!

This was us watching the Super Bowl from the ship. I was very interested......

 So our trip was delayed leaving. There was fog in Galveston on Saturday and halfway down we got a call saying the ship hadn't even come in yet so not to come to the port until we heard back.  We kept a good attitude (we were just happy to not be home picking up food off the floor).  We were really just hoping to be able to get on the ship that day since they were supposed to dock at 4am and we were hearing about this at 10am and the ship wasn't even in with the people off yet.  Luckily our boarding time was just pushed from 12-2 to 2-5.  BUT once you get through all the lines to get on the ship, usually you just walk right on. Not this time- there was a big holding room where they handed you a number to board. We got 22- in the 10 min we were getting through that part of the line where we could hear we heard the number 8 be called. That was it.  I'm not proud to say we cheated, but we did- this nice man turned around and said- what number did you say you were??? Come with us we're boarding next. So we became their kids and went with them.  I think anyone that knows me knows that it would have been pretty bad for everyone if that hadn't have happened ;-)

With the recent cruise trouble I thought maybe I should just wear my life jacket around the ship. Just in case.

 We went to the dance club almost every night at the end of the night.  The first night we were there this little lady with the flower in her hair was there.  She had a flower in her hair that night too- she was just down on the floor by herself breaking it down having a grand old time. (much like me since my husband won't dance).  The first thing I told Chris when I woke up the next morning was that I wanted to be just like her when I grew up.  We met her and her husband the next night and she was SO funny and awesome - I hope I am half that fun when I grow up!  The other lady was there for a midwife convention she hung out with us for awhile too- and told us how awesome natural childbirth is. Thanks but no thanks.

 We stopped at Progresso and Cozumel.  This was Monday in Progresso - we got massages on the beach that were an hour long and 2 for $25. Can't beat that!

 Adam and Chris hanging out on the beach in the shade

 Adam and Rachel with their Red Solo cups that were a staple most nights

 Chris and I are still dressed up- apparently Adam and Rachel are 5 year olds and had to take their fancy clothes off right after dinner.  We didn't know that was happening. 

 Chris enjoyed posing like our towel animals each night

 In Cozumel we hung out downtown having drinks and shopping. Great combination. 

 As you can see

 I had to put this one in of the big TV on deck. This was the first time we were on a ship that had this. It was pretty cool- one night we just sat in the hot tub right in front of the TV and watched the movie Hop.

 Meanwhile our children were making their rounds through the family.  I felt like 5 nights was  a long time for my mom and dad to have to deal with all the shenanigans of our life, with getting Elliott to school and all that.  I wanted to be sure they'd watch our kids again sometime! Sunday the girls went to church with J and Ray- then to the aquarium with them and their friends Jennifer and Ava.  Monday while E was at school B had Aunt Ray all to herself- they are good buddies, a shopping trip and an earring trade took place.  Elliott spent Monday night with Rylee and Aunt Amanda got her off to school Tuesday- Rylee cried when she had to leave :-( Then it was back to Grammy for the rest of the trip.

Here are the girls riding with Tucker. I LOVE Berkley's face.

 With Ava at the aquarium

 Berkley was terrified of the turtle

 Aunt Amanda took Berk to dance- here she is in the car

 E at Aunt Amanda's house

 Patton enjoying Aunt Amanda's sonic ice

 While the girls took a few days away Grammy and Papa had Mr Patton all week. They had lots of fun- he is finally buddies with Baxter!  He used to scrunch up his face and scream when he came towards him- after finding him in a docile state sleeping he tentatively reached out and pet a tooth and the rest is history!