Be Mine

We had a quiet Valentine's weekend but sometimes that's the best kind to have! The girls both had their school parties on Friday and Kate was super excited. Mostly because she was in charge of bringing the cookies but also because there was a party involved. And even though Mags didn't know there was a party, they ate plenty of goodies in her classroom and I know this because she was welcomed in the door on Friday morning with a cookie! Unfortunately, in the wee hours of Saturday morning we were awakened by Kate who informed us that she had thrown up in her bed and indeed she had! Sadly the candy festival was put on hold for a day until her stomach got back to normal. In the meantime, Ryan and I celebrated a pseudo Valentine's dinner with the Carikers on Saturday night and even though we had terrible service the company was great. After church on Sunday, the girls got their presents...Kate: a Fancy Nancy book and an Ariel costume and Maggie: a Valentine book and an Olivia DVD. Kate immediately put the costume on and has pretty much had it on every waking minute since and Mags carries the DVD case around saying "Olivia" in Mag-ese. We capped off the weekend with a heart shaped pizza and I baked heart shaped cookies for dessert. Wait...did I say a quiet weekend?! Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

My sweet Valentines!

The only thing missing are the shoes -

which I was quickly reminded!:)

Yea for heart shaped pizza - thanks Papa Johns!

Enjoying dessert - Mags wasn't cooperating

with the picture taking!

Let It Snow!

Another big ice/snow storm blew through Tulsa last week. We started with freezing rain, turning to sleet on Thursday afternoon and woke up Friday morning anticipating snow. It started snowing mid-morning and continued to fall most of the day, stopping sometime during the afternoon. The girls' school was cancelled so we had a snow day at our house. We had fun watching movies, eating popcorn, playing games, and of course playing out in the snow. But we were really happy to be able to get out on Saturday because 48 hours of being cooped up in the house is plenty! We're looking forward to a normal week this week with our usual activities. Enjoy the pictures!

The calm before the storm - this was the day before
the storm started...60 degrees and sunny! Crazy
weather!

A 10am showing of Cinderella

Complete with popcorn and Maggie's
cheesy smile!

Fun in the snow!

Lucy is a snow dog! Chuck played too, but he got
cold and he broke his toenail so he was warming
up and being doctored by Ryan!

Blue snow ice cream...a great way to end a snow day!

Yummy!

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken in November by an awesome photographer, Amy Herndon. I was super impressed with her work. I think these pictures capture Kate and Maggie's personalities perfectly!

Story Time

We had a lazy Saturday night and played up in the girls' rooms for awhile. Both Kate and Maggie love to read (which makes mommy happy!) and we spend alot of time reading books together. Each of them took a turn reading to us while we taped it. My favorite part of Maggie reading is near the end when she realizes that her book is upside down...obviously by looking at the pictures!:)

Disney World!

We just got home from 5 fun, busy, exciting and tiring days at Disney World thanks to a very generous Christmas gift from Mimi and PopPop! Some highlights from the trip: having breakfast with the princesses in Cinderella's Castle, riding the monorail a lot!, getting our picture taken with Cinderella's mean step-mother and step-sisters, watching fireworks every night from our hotel (The Contemporary), and riding Kate's favorite ride, Dumbo!

It was a super fun trip, but exhausting too! On New Year's Eve, we heard that there were 77,000 people in the Magic Kingdom alone!!! Needless to say, the lines were looong and we tried to Fast Pass as much as possible. That said, we rode all the rides that we really wanted to and everyone had a blast!

Happy 2010!!!

(This picture post is forever long so scroll down if you have the time and/or desire!)

Getting ready to head to the airport

Maggie's ready to go!

Mags, Kate and Kamryn at Downtown Disney

The view from our hotel room (the castle is in

the middle and Space Mountain is to the right)

The grand-kids are excited for a day in the Magic Kingdom

Kate insisted that Ryan and I be in the picture...she

wouldn't do it alone! (Mean step-mother and step-

sisters from Cinderella for those of you who aren't up

on your princess characters!)

Cold night in the Magic Kingdom

So excited for Dumbo!

Carousel with daddy

Group picture at Chef Mickey's

Happy birthday to daddy!!!

Lunch at the Sci-Fi Drive-In Theater

This is how Maggie spent lunch at Sci-Fi...she woke up

as we were leaving!

Night fun at Epcot

Holy cow, it's Cinderella and she invited us to eat

breakfast in her castle!

Kate's really into Snow White these days

No fake smiles here!

Maggie wouldn't look at the camera. She was

checking out Princess Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty

Kate was concerned that Jasmine was "naked" because

her "tummy was showing!"

Kate loves Belle but wondered why she didn't wear her

yellow princess dress?!

Belle playing peek-a-boo with a shy Mags

Snow White is helping Kate look for her wish that she made

Mags is fired up for the Haunted Mansion...she fell asleep inside!

Sucker break!

Happy 2010! Fireworks over the Magic Kingdom.

Last day at Disney!:(

Waiting for the bus to take us to the

airport

Thanks Mimi and PopPop...we had a great time!!!

White Christmas!

Another Christmas has come and gone but not without excitement. This was a white Christmas here in Tulsa, complete with 6-8 inches of snow. It started coming down mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve and stopped sometime during the middle of the night. While a white Christmas is pretty and in theory sounds great, it makes the logistics of Christmas difficult. We didn't get to participate in Christmas Eve dinner at Uncle Stan and Aunt Marci's and Christmas Eve church services were cancelled. We ended up ordering out for dinner and watching Charlie Brown's Christmas before opening our Christmas Eve gifts of pjs and books, setting out Santa's cookies and milk and heading off to bed. Kate was sad to miss Aunt Marci's party (the girl loves to dress up and go to parties!) but I think she ended up having fun at home. Oh and before bed Kate did get the opportunity to test out her new snow boots and shovel while helping daddy shovel the sidewalk and porch.

On Christmas morning, the girls were super excited to see their gifts from Santa and evidently they were on the "nice" list because both girls got what they asked for! Kate is thrilled with her Snow White costume and cape and Maggie could care less about her Dora doll!:) After we played for awhile, (while Ryan spent a good 2 hours shoveling and trying to get our car out of the driveway) Glammy, Papaw, Uncle Brett, Nanny and Bumps came over for breakfast and to see what the girls got. We then all loaded up and headed out to Glammy and Papaw's to open gifts and have a late lunch. Kate loved her Barbie sleeping bag and talked us into using it a nap time and Mags really loved her Hot Tot princess car. After quick naps, emphasis on quick, we met up with the extended family at Nanny and Bumps' house for more gift opening and dinner. Favorite gifts from Nanny and Bumps were the microphone for Kate and the doll swing for Maggie. When we made it safely home around 8:00, we were exhausted but had had such a fun day!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! What a great year we've had...hope 2010 is just as good or even better!

Chilren's Party at Southern Hills

Needed her apron on to help mommy

make chocolate covered pretzels

for the neighbors

Let the shoveling begin!

Merry Christmas Eve - with new pjs and a book

Anxious to see what Santa brought

Explaining to Maggie that it's a Dora doll

Already in costume, opening

presents from mommy and daddy

Maggie had fun ripping the paper

Snuggled in her new sleeping bag

Mags and her Hot Tot

Nanny and Bumps got each girl a

princess costume

The great-grandkids enjoyed a dinner of grilled

cheese sandwiches and fruit...yummy!