Huh-Huh-Huh Honey's House

Three hours into their first day at MDO, I get a phone call from the director.  Natalie had thrown up.  So, what do I do?  I pack the girls and I for an immediate trip to Baton Rouge.  I've had the stomach virus enough times this year to know that I need some help taking care of the girls if I come down with this.  After making up a rap song during our I-10 travels, titled "Huh huh huh-honey's house", the girls now have a new favorite phrase that they love singing or rapping.  Here's a few pics from Honey's and Ah-bee's house.  We were also able to swing by BBC for Wed. night dinner.  Oh, the chalk figures are the artwork of Uncle Patrick.

Claire is also fascinated with jewelry and makeup.  I wish I could claim that she got that from me.

Catchin up

  The last two weeks have been chaotic, wonderful, jam packed, and challenging all in one.  This post will be long....brace yourself.   2010 brought us many changes: David working 80 hour weeks, a stint at daycare, Claire undergoing surgery, the girls evolving into independent little people.  The result of all these changes is me staying home with my girls until things settle down.  The girls celebrated their birthday at the end of July.  Ironically, I was at work that night celebrating my last day at TCH.  After going round and round about what to do for their bday, we ended up just celebrating with family on three different occasions.  First, Nana and Gran were in Kingwood for an Ogletree wedding.  We had many cupcakes and a great storytime thanks to the children's Bible from Nana and Gran.

One day, I hope to have Claire's ability to really focus. Love that girl.

Oh, I found a new use for my old purses that were in the Goodwill box.  Natalie really appreciates her purse.  She can now carry her ten favorite toys of the day at all times.  Have I mentioned she is a hoarder? 

I like this picture not only because of her sweet face but also the red crayon marks to the left of her. 

Wonder who did that?

Our next celebration was in Church Point.  We saw family that the girls have never met before, and they had the best time playing with their cousins.  Thanks to all of the McBride family for making the girls birthday so fun and special.

Sean was wonderful with the girls. He showed them his toys and was so sweet to them.  

He'll make a great babysitter one day. 

Claire loved the Escalade.  Natalie, however, bailed out (literally) during her drive.  She was content with chasing Claire and Sean.

I think Claire looks just like pictures of Aunt Jen Jen when she was a kiddo. Whatcha think?

They also had a blast playing with sweet cousin Bailey. I think this may be the first picture where my girls are posed and BOTH looking at the camera. Is that considered a milestone?

Lastly, we had Honey, Ah-bee, Madison (mad-dog), and LaLa (by the way the girls saw a high school pic of Honey today and they kept saying LaLa. I never thought y'all looked alike until the girls pointed it out.  Smart girls.)

Thanks LaLa for the BBQ pit.  For some reason they are obsessed with the tongs!

So many reasons why I love this pic.  I love that she is a bow head.  Her boots are on the wrong foot.  That she has on one of my dresses that Honey made for me.  I remember this dress only when seeing it in a picture of me that my dad kept in his wallet until I was probably 15.   It's surreal seeing it on one of my girls.

We should have known better....

Many thanks to Sugar, Poppa, and Jen Jen.  We loved spending the holiday weekend with y'all.  Great food and great fun.

Yesterday, the girls and I drove down to Houston to meet David for lunch and a park date.  We found a great Tex Mex place with a perfect playground (in the shade) that the girls were really enjoying.   BUT...We had to leave because we had our minds made up that we were going to Hermann Park to ride the choo choo train and feed the ducks.  On the way to the park, we realized we (I) left the stroller in our garage.  Did we turn around and go back to the nice shaded playground, or did we continue to a very large park with two year old twins?  We continued to Hermann Park all the while knowing that meltdowns could be in store.  Not only did it seem like it was the hottest day of the year, but Natalie did not take well to standing in line.  David and I took turns running after her while the line for the train seemed to last forever.  Once we boarded the train, I think the girls' looked up a few times.  Claire was fixated on the nuts/bolts on the seat in front of us.  She spent the entire ride trying to figure out how to unscrew them.  We just kept telling ourselves, "We should have known better".  Can you feel the heat when you look at this pic?

When we got home, we started dinner.  For dessert, we thought the girls would enjoy holding their own yogurt cups while they ate.  We should have known better than to give Natalie a cup of anything without expecting this:

Last but not least, we should have known better than to add Mr. Bubbles to their bath water then turn on the jets.  Actually, the bubbles were a fun way to end the day.

Oh, and I'm so jealous of my girls' eyelashes.  They both have the most beautiful and thick lashes. I can't believe Natalie held still (a miracle) long enough for me to get a pic.

Possibly a future drummer and engineer.....

Uncle Patrick and Eliza were in Louisiana a few weekends ago.  We decided to meet half way between Houston and Baton Rouge just for the day, which wound up being in Lake Charles.  We found a small children's museum that kept the girls wide-eyed.  We learned that Natalie was a natural on the drums.  Honestly, she quickly had the posture and the look of a drummer.  It was so funny to see an almost 2 year old look like she belongs in a band.

Our little engineer, Claire, was kept quite busy.  She is always the one trying to figure out how something works.  She gets this little look (that usually involves her eyebrows) when she is deep in thought.  She is a very determined child and has tons of patience.  We'll just let you guess which parent she takes after.

So....Natalie hoards.  She walks around the house with as many toys as she can fit in her hands.  She tries to bring them to the dinner table.  She'll try to read a book with her blankie, baby doll, handful of goldfish, and a random lego or two.  She never wants to put anything down.  She only wants to add to her collection.  Well, you can guess how the "supermarket" exhibit was for Natalie.  Let's just say, it wasn't easy getting her to let go of this cart.

 

Oh, and here is Claire waiting on her sweet customer and then ringing her up with a little help.

The girls also loved this noodle maze.  I love this pic because of her little legs and feet sticking out at the bottom.

The girls also enjoyed the race car tracks, the iguana, and of course the play area with a tunnel.

Giving Thanks.

The girls are really into mimicking these days.  They love to sing their dolls good night just like mommy and daddy do for them.  We have now moved to booster seats so we can all eat off the same table.  No more high chairs!  Now that they are really increasing their vocabulary by copying mommy and daddy, we have introduced a sweet prayer from our childhood.  Claire is a very determined child of God :)

Memorial Day and the Pool

We've had a big weekend.  We celebrated David's birthday with Sugar and Poppa.  We worked in our yard (which I find relaxing) and then let the girls play in their pool.  Many thanks to Sugar and Poppa.  I felt like I had a mini vacation. It's been so long that I've gotten to sleep in.  I can't thank you enough for the "me time"  and the delicious cheesecake!