One and Three

In the last week we've celebrated both Ella and Betsy's birthdays! Saturday we had a party and many of our loved ones came over and shared a meal, a movie (that I made of the girls), cupcakes, football and of course, present unwrapping. It's been a very fun week.

Monday I took the girls for their well baby appointments and here are the stats!

Ella is 30 inches long and 19 pounds. She's in the 79% for length and 17% for weight. Betsy is 36 inches long and 29 pounds. She's in the 39% for height and 37% for weight. There were shots for both, and some tears and stickers

Dr. C is really happy with their growth and development. It's such a blessing to watch them grow. Having healthy children is a gift we try not to take for granted.

It's been kind of nice to be a more mellow second time parent, whereas with Betsy I was really worried about all her milestones. Of course I still watch for those with Ella, and we celebrate them as they happen, but I'm just enjoying her being little right now. Because this phase doesn't last very long and it might very well be the last time we have an infant!

Betsy's verbal ability is just CRAZY to me. She uses new words all the time, and asks for us to define what things are. I love listening to Betsy trying to teach Ella words in the backseat on the drive home every day. When Ella repeats something Betsy laughs and laughs, and Ella chimes in because she wants to do everything big sister does.

So happy birthday week to Ella and Betsy! I look forward to many more birthdays with you girls.

Birthdays with the Bergers

This weekend we headed to Dallas to see cousin Abby Berger and celebrate her second birthday! Abby is about a year younger than Betsy and a year older than Ella and I foresee MANY fun nights in the future for the three of these little ones. They enjoy each other's company so much, and it's nice for Betsy to have a girl-cousin her age to hang out with, as she has several boy-cousins close-by to play with.

On Saturday we drove up for the party, and it was at a fun location called Kidville. It was by far the most interactive and kid-centered birthday party I've ever been to. It was FANTASTIC. The kids attending were the perfect ages for the activities they had! They made crafts (sunglasses and tambourines!) they got temporary tattoo-stickers, the played in a kid oriented gym, they had pizza and juice and the cake (OMG. It was amazing. Christi, could you just send me ONE more piece?).

After the party we headed back to Abby's house to open presents (where Betsy helped with the opening). The girls played dress up for a while, and then we all headed over to the mall so Abby and Betsy could build-a-bear which was part of our birthday gift for Abs! They were all a little cranky, but they built their bears (Betsy picked a blue bear that sings the Jonas Brother's Love Bug song. Abby picked a traditional bear that sings Happy Birthday!). Then we went out for Mexican food.

Our little monsters slept SO hard after all that excitement...though I did find Betsy curled in a ball on the Berger couch after climbing out of the portacrib in the office!

We had a great time and we are so excited to get to see them in a couple weeks for EJB and ECB's birthday party in December!

I LOVE all this family close by. It's such a gift for my girls to be BFFs with their cousins. Now for a few pictures!

Hi-Ho, to the North Pole I go!

This year we're participating in the Elf-On-The-Shelf game. This concept is basically a book that tells kiddos that a scout elf is coming to visit our home for the holiday season. The children name the elf (our elf is Hi-Ho-Guy), and the elf flies to the North Pole nightly to report to Santa if the children have been naughty or nice. Betsy also insists Hi-Ho-Guy sings the Hi-Ho song to Santa nightly.

Last night we read our Elf on the Shelf book in bed as a family and as soon as the kiddos fell asleep Ben ran to the living room to move Hi-Ho-Guy. This morning Betsy and Ben rushed into the living room to find him (hanging out on a candlestick) and tell him that Betsy slept in her bed all night last night.

Betsy and Ben also whispered to Hi-Ho-Guy what they would like Santa to bring this year. Betsy said "pink camera" and I'm pretty sure Ben whispered PlayStation 3. Too bad Ben's been so naughty this year.

This is a fun little game for Betsy and I love that she understands it this year! I'm looking forward to Hi-Ho-Guy (or a different named version) every year while the girls grow up. I'll have to post pictures of the fun places our elf finds to monitor the Bralley behaviour.

Don't tell Betsy and Ella...

Don't tell Betsy and Ella (for three more weeks until their birthdays!) but this is what they are getting from my mom and myself for their birthdays! My kiddos have lots of toys, and Christmas quickly follows their birthdays. So we were thinking this would be a fun present for the two little ones to grow into for a few years to come! We ordered the 'oversize' anywhere chair from Pottery Barn kids, and the bottom one is a size comparison for how 'oversize' it really is. I can easily sit in this chair, but it's low enough to the ground that the girls can get in and out on their own. Betsy and Ella both got red chairs, and I think these will be a great addition to their space in the playroom! A friend pointed me to a 'secret sale' PB was having and another friend sent me a coupon code, so I ended up getting both for the price of one.

I can't wait for their birthdays to get here so we can show them! It's a good thing we have so many fun plans in the next few weeks to keep us busy until then :)

The longest day of the year

Is it just me, or did this 'longest day of the year' seem to last FOREVER? It was like a time warp opened and we crammed three days worth of stuff into one day. Ben cleaned out the garage, built a bench, took down the Christmas decor, took Betsy for breakfast, went grocery shopping, cooked four meals for dinners this week, gave the kids a bath, and we watched a movie! And I made four pumpkin rolls, wrapped Christmas presents, put up and decorated the tree, cleaned the kitchen (twice) had a wrestling match with the girls, helped Ella work on her walking, ordered Christmas cards and new wall prints for our house.

The kiddos slept great, played with us and one another (and loved the fisher price nativity set that came out with the Christmas stuff). Bets was SO EXCITED about the tree, it makes us even more excited about the most wonderful time of the year.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was SO much fun this year. Betsy and William are at an age where they really understand what's happening. Ella and Hudson are just along for the ride. I can't express with words how much I love seeing my girls with my nephews so often. Betsy and Will are SO close. They adore one another, and are probably the best friends of all time. It's like they are twins, who spend just enough time apart to really like each other. I hope 10 years from now as they hit their teen years they still love, play, and protect one another like they do now.

Betsy has a big appreciation for cows that carried over to our Halloween theme this year. We see cows almost daily in the couple miles we drive from my in-laws house to our house. We also happen to LOVE... Chick Fil A. We decided to make Betsy and William cows together, then we borrowed a costume for Ella and three cows yielded the CFA advertising 'Eat mor chikin' motif. Cousin Hudson (or Huddy) came as Simba from the Lion King. My father-in-law Jim came over, and Ben, Mary, JD and Jim all took the kids TOTing while Tiffany and I handed out candy.

Here are pictures of our little hiefers!

Welcome Brady!

My cousin Greg and his wife Rachael welcomed a son today, he's very handsome! I had grand ambitions for a cute picture of the girls with a welcome sign...but they are REALLY tired at the end of the day. This was as good as it got...




Welcome Brady! I can't wait to see him soon!

Chompin' at the bit!

I am SO EXCITED!

A couple of days ago my mom mentioned that she and my dad would be headed back to Gainesville for the next home Florida game! She said UF would be playing Tennessee...and I got to thinking. I would LOVE to see UF play Tennessee. One of Ben's sweet highschool friend's Chris coaches at Tennesse. I gave Chris a call, and checked with my parents (who were SO excited that I wanted to come) and it happened like *snap* that.



So my flight is booked, Chris is working on the game tickets for us, and in one week I'll be on a plane to Orlando! I'm heading out a day early to spend some time with my Nana, who hasn't met Ella yet. I'll be bringing her with me! So Mom, Dad, Lauren and myself (and Ella) will all be in Gainesville for the weekend. We'll tailgate with Sean and his family too.

What an awesome weekend to look forward to!!

Random Happenings.

My thoughts are all over the place after an almost 4 day weekend.

- I'm so happy it's cooled off a bit in Centex. We had a record breaking hot summer (75+ days over 100 degrees)... and it is NICE today. Yesterday we left the back door open most of the day. Betsy went to school in long sleeves, and said "Hey it's cold out here!"

- Please pray for those fighting the fires in Texas. We have so many friends all over Texas and we're worried for their safety. This is the worst drought in recorded history in Texas and these fires are moving quickly and destroying homes.

- Betsy saw a man running this morning and said "Hey! Look at that running hippie!" This was inspired by discussions of my Dad who has been working out and getting in shape lately. His grandpa name is 'hippie'.

- Ella ate her first ice cream this weekend. Huge fan. She also ate peas, carrots, squash, yogurt and bananas. She loves eating. And she's gotten really good at it.

- My girls slept more than they were awake this weekend. Spending a night with the 'big kids' will wear them out! I enjoyed the peace when they were sleeping and I enjoyed their awesome moods when they were awake.

- I don't remember Ben being gone so much last year in the fall, but I know he was. It's not HARD without him home, but he's such a big help when he gets home. And those girls (especially Bets) is SO EXCITED to see him come through the door.

- Have I mentioned I love this weather? I broke out my cowboy boots in honor of the fallish feel in the air.

- I think this weekend might be the first of many pumpkin roll paloozas with my girls. Betsy loves helping in the kitchen, and Ella loves sitting in the highchair watching. Ben has an away football game and a far away meet this weekend so I might as well start planning stuff to keep us busy.

- FOOTBALL! I had games on all weekend but the only game I really got to focus on was the Baylor-TCU game and MAN was it good. I'm hoping to have some low key time to watch some games next weekend.

- It's nice skipping Monday, isn't it?

TGIF!

It's a great day! It's the Friday before a three day weekend! AND at work, it's the first day that registration is over, meaning it's much slower, giving us time to catch up around the office!

We have a fun weekend planned! After work I'm taking Bets to the eye doctor. We're concerned about her vision as she squints, sits close to the TV AND when she's tired seems to have a lazy eye. This stuff is genetic and being that Ben had terrible eye sight pre-lasik we're going to be proactive about treating it (if it's necessary!).

Tonight I'm keeping nephew William while Mary goes to support my brother-in-law JD at Wingo. JD has been hosting this even at Pluckers where my SIL Tiffany is the catering manager! It's really fun and if we didn't have to find child care it would be a weekly event for us. SO, Betsy is having her first slumber party with Will, and Mary is going to come stay with us after Wingo!

Mary is doing us a big favor in staying the night so the next morning she can watch the girls while Ben is coordinating his school's cross country meet, and I'm assisting (I think I'm checking people in, then calculating results.) We should be done pretty early Saturday, probably by 11 am then I suspect we'll rest. Then I'm so happy we have TWO days off in a row. YAY for Labor Day!

We've made no plans for the rest of the weekend, so I'm sure I'll be back Monday to report what mischief we've gotten ourselves into.

Ten years

It's been ten years since a couple of big things happened in my life. I started college ten years ago. I pledged a sorority (Zeta) ten years ago. And I met my sweet HusBen ten years ago.

The past ten years have been so full of changes! I found myself while in college. I developed independence and confidence I didn't have before. I found a CAREER! I loved college so much I decided to work in the field.

I loved my undergrad years in Zeta, and I've met some of my best friends through the organization. My SISTER pledged the same sorority which was kind of fun (and makes my girls double legacies should they decide to rush in the future.) Ten years after pledging, I'm going to be a bridesmaid for one of my zeta sisters this December. We've gone through break-ups, make-ups, marriages, children, jobs, and supported one another in pursuing our dreams. We might not talk regularly, but when we do we pick right up where we left off. These friends of mine are all over the world now. It makes me SO glad to have had my time in Zeta.

I met Ben my first week at school and during the four years I was an undergraduate student we dated pretty steadily. Our relationship has matured so much... I look back at letters we wrote each other even five years ago and it's really apparent how we've grown so much stronger in the past five years. While looking back I've always thought we've had a mature relationship but reading those letters show me how much we've grown up and changed for the better. It's hard to imagine the next ten years holding more changes that the past ten have, but I'm sure I'll be awed with what happens in our future.

These pictures were so fun to find! They reminded me of many nights-out. Getting ready for date parties, road trips, days spent laying out by the pool, talking about boys. I miss those days sometimes, but I love where we are now.

















Shannie and Ben. I need to upload a few of the pre-digital camera pictures too!


By the way, have you noticed how Ben doesn't age? It's not fair! He looks the exact same today as he did when I met him ten years ago.