The Twins' Pre-K Graduation

Christi and her boys

Wow! I can't believe Chris and Charlie graduated from Pre-Kindergarten and will begin Elementary School in the fall. I can still remember holding their tiny fingers in the NICU and worrying that I might hurt them just by touching their sweet fingers. Now, I look at two strong, sweet, smart, happy 5 year olds!! Life is good and we are so blessed by sweet Chris and Charlie. Here's to Primrose for the last 4+ years and here's to new adventures in Kindergarten!

The boys performed "Zip A Dee Doo Dah" and it was so cute! Check it out! Please ignore my singing in the background. I was excited!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHSY51fQBkI

Chris

Charlie

This group of boys has been friends since they were one year olds. They are like brothers and I am sure they will always be friends. I love this picture so much because there were 5 Moms, 2 aunts, many grandmothers, some fathers, and uncle D all trying to get the boys to cooperate and smile for the camera. This is the best we could do but I think it's pretty darn cute!

TROUBLE - Blake, Xavier, Chris, Charlie and Zane

A summation of lately...

1. Mother's Day- I was the sickest I've been in years. I have no pictures to show for the day. I have no memories. I went to the Minute Clinic with 103 fever and the worst sore throat I can remember. I had strep so Daren quarantined me from being around the girls and I slept fighting a fever fog for a solid 48 hours. Oddly, it wasn't the Mother's Day I imagined but it was a special one. Daren and the girls made me a beautiful frame with the girls' sweet handprints on it. Daren graced me with a beautiful bouquet of roses and a homemade breakfast. Both girls made sweet gifts through school. Although I felt awful and I didn't really get to spend the time I wanted to spend with my sweet girls, I felt loved and honored. I love being a Mommy. Nothing fills me up more and it was nice to feel special.

2. Harper- She is growing up. She talks incessantly. She smiles and laughs all the time. Harper is truly one of the sweetest, happiest little girls! Harper is fearless and fun. She will do anything. She is busy and energetic. She is snuggly and so sweet. She loves Daisy and she loves to give Daisy hugs. Some of her favorite moments are when Daisy is in her crib, when she is putting her babies night night, when she waters the flowers outside, when she reads books, and when she is with "Issy." (Claire) She loves her "Issy" so much. She is Issy's shadow, and they have grown to be good friends. Harper is smart. She knows her colors. She can count to ten. She knows the words to many songs. Harper loves to dance, to swing, to read and to laugh. Harper is a sweet soul. She is so easygoing. We love our sweet Harper Ann!

3. Claire- Claire has so quickly become a big girl. She is compassionate, loving, funny, and so sweet. Claire is and has always been a very easy little girl. She rolls with the punches and she loves life. She is up for any adventure and her willingness to try new things always impresses her Mommy. She is brave, strong, opinionated and so intuitive. Nothing gets by Claire. She notices everything. This trait makes for a lot of laughs but sometimes leads to embarrassing moments because she hasn't fully learned that some things we just don't say. Claire is 100% girl. She loves to dress up and play with makeup. She loves to color. She loves to dance and sing and play teacher. She has grown to be an incredible big sister. She is protective of Harper and patient with her. One of my favorite sister moments lately are when we are in the car and Harper is bossing Issy to sing "Row, Row" or "Baa,Baa" or "Sweet Caroline" and Claire sweetly obliges over and over again.

Life is good. We are blessed. Our girls fill me up. I couldn't be a prouder Mommy. I couldn't enjoy my role as a Mommy more. The only thing I am missing is more time. I just want more time to laugh, to snuggle, to dance, to water the plants, to love my sweet girls. But, I will take my life exactly as it is. I wouldn't change a thing. I love my sweet, amazing husband a million times more than the day I married him. I look at him and I truly see my best friend and my life partner. I am proud of him as a husband, as a friend, as a business man and as a father. I have married and promised my life to an amazing person! I can't believe that I have loved him for more than 14 years. Really, I wanted to take the time and the effort to articulate that I am blessed. Life is sweet.

Wonders & Worries Princess Ball

For the second year now, Daren took Claire to the Wonders & Worries Princess Ball. This is an organization that raises money to provide counseling services and fun events for kids whose parents are terminally ill. This particular event is really fun for Claire and Daren. It is a Daddy/Daughter ball and all the Disney princesses are invited too. They serve dinner, paint faces, dance to the music of a DJ, play in the balloon room, etc... Each princess girl receives a tiara and a magic wand as she arrives to the ball! I personally love this night that they spend together because I know that Claire will hold it in her heart forever. She has one more year to do it alone with her Daddy and then somehow, Daddy will be juggling two princesses at the ball. That might not seem like much of a task, but if you know Harper...

Claire being a "princess" right before they left for the ball. She looks so serious, but she's actually being really silly!

One of our friends went with her Daddy. Daren says they danced the night away!

A Cinderella sighting

A Jasmine and Snow White sighting

Rainbow butterfly

Daddy and his sweet rainbow butterfly princess

Daddy and Claire got to meet Tinkerbell

The pros took one

Easter Fun!

Always catching up on this blogging thing...

"Mommy and Daddy, don't make us stop for a picture! Please let us go Easter egg hunting."

The girls on the hunt!

Harper squatting to see what's inside

Harper reading a book the Easter Bunny left for her

Claire checking out all her goodies

The Nix family on Easter

The little Nix family on Eastser

The Easter Bunny also came to Pops and Grandma's House!

Claire on the hunt

Harper checking out the goods

Watching Tarzan  after a long, fun day

She knows what?!

On Sunday, Harper, Claire and I were coloring. Out of nowhere, Harper shouts "BLOO!" I laugh and say to her "Ahh, you scared me!" A few minutes pass, she picks up another color and says "GEEN!" I look down at the first color she was holding and it was BLUE! She wasn't trying to scare me. She knows her colors. DUH! I shout for Daddy to bring the camera and come listen. He obliges. I have to admit that we had no idea that Harper knew her colors. No idea... But we are so proud of Miss Harper! BLOO! GEEN! YE-LLOW! WED! Yay Harper!

Watch for yourself:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uUockFgFes

The Good Ship Lollipop

Claire was asked to perform in the Hill Country Galleria Spring Fest. Only 3 kids from her class showed up. One cried incessantly and refused to perform. So Claire and one other girl got up on stage at the ampitheater in front of many people and performed. Pops, Daddy, Mommy and Harper got front row seats and LOVED every minute.

This link to watch "The Good Ship Lollipop" is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQVd5ZrKdmg

This is a picture of some of the girls from several different classes lined up backstage.

Claire back stage

About to perform

Pops was so proud of his Claire Bear

Happy Birthday, Claire!

Our sweet Claire Elaine is four years old!! I can't believe it. Some days, I remember when she was itty bitty like it was yesterday and somedays it seems like forever ago. Claire is a fun, sweet, sensitive little girl. She loves to sing, dance, play teacher, dress up and play outside. She loves animals. She is cautious, but she loves a good adventure. With some coaxing, she will try just about anything. More than anything, Claire LOVES princesses.

Claire loves all things princess- tiaras, dress up, make up. Her favorite princesses are Rapunzel from Tangled and Tiana from The Princess and the Frog. She can recite lines from the movies. She know all the lyrics to the songs. So Daren and I decided that, for her 4th birthday, we were going to have Rapunzel pay Claire a surprise visit. We sent this invitation out to all her princess friends. We brought all of Claire's dress up clothes so that the girls could have as many wardrobe changes as they wanted. 

The invitation

Playing on the playscape with her princess friends with no idea that there is a surprise visitor on the way.

It was time for the surprise guest to arrive and Claire spotted her! Look at that reaction- priceless!

"There she is!"

There were a few Rapunzels

Rapunzel made all the princesses their very own magic swords

She taught them all how to princess clap and curtsy. Here they are practicing the curtsy.

She put on a magic show

Blowing out the candles of her Rapunzel cake that she picked out!!

Princess Emma breaking the pinata after many 4 year old attempts.

Sweet sisterly moments

This is the girls on picture day! Please note Miss Harper's waffle. Mommy begged for a picture and Harper wouldn't stand still. Claire took matters into her own hands to hold Harper still! Let's pretend it's a sweet sisterly hug. HAHA!

This picture is of the girls after school one day. Mimi planted many flowers in our frontyard beds. The girls LOVE to water them. Claire waters with the big jug. Harper follows suit with her special water jug. Don't worry, Claire does wear clothes most days when she waters.

The boys' 5th Birthday Party

The boys' 5th birthday is April 22nd, but they had their birthday party already. It was a blast. The kids had so much fun!

 

Claire the rock climber

The party sings "Happy Birthday" to Chris in the spot of his choice. He wanted us to sing to him while he hung from the rings above the foam pit. So fearless!

Charlie's special moment to be the birthday star, he chose to jump from the trampoline into the foam pit. Then he got braver and decided he would hang from the rings and drop into the foam pit. Such a big boy!

Harper really liked the birthday cake!

Where have we been?

Where have we been? ALL OVER THE PLACE!! Life is busy and it doesn't slow down. We are exhausted but we are loving life and enjoying every moment. I have not blogged in so long that it overwhelms me to break the last 6 weeks down into events. So, I will give our latest top events...

Cat came to visit for Grandma's birthday and the boys' 5th birthday party! Chris really wanted a slip n slide, so Catherine delivered. We had a blast! The kids literally slipped and slid until they couldn't do it any longer. To date, this afternoon (into the night) is one of my favorite memories of watching the kids. We didn't have bathing suits so they went slip n sliding in their birthday suits. They laughed until they couldn't laugh anymore. And, Miss Harper tried desperately to keep up with the big kids and did a damn good job. D, Cat and I couldn't handle being on the sidelines, so after just a few trips, we joined.

D and Charlie hanging out by the pool while we grill Grandma's birthday dinner...

The boys love Cat!

Grandma and her girls celebrating her birthday

This is a random afternoon at the park. The Nixes came in town for a visit and we were being silly!

Upside down Claire

 

Swinging Harper

Celebrating Mimi's Birthday

D and I meeting Lucille Banzhaf

Lucy Armbrister's Birthday Party

The girls have made some wonderful friends at their new school. Claire fast and furiously fell in love with Ellie. This picture is of the the two friends cheering at a birthday party for a boy named Parker. The birthday party was led by a coach on a Sport Court and the kids were supposed to be doing races and such, but Ellie and Claire decided they would cheer for everybody. It was priceless.

 

 

 

Claire riding a pony at Wyatt's birthday party at the Austin Rodeo

Harper has been fearless since birth. She loves life and she loves to try new things. This was Harper's first pony ride and she squealed with delight.

Then, Claire shocked us because she demanded to ride the roller coaster by herself?! She rode 3-4 times, threw her hands up in the air and had a blast. I was so proud of her, but I was also in shock at how brave our sweet little Claire bear can be. I love this picture because Claire looks so serious. She has her "game face on."

Lastly, Claire is obsessed with Rapunzel. We took her to Tangled- the regular movie. She went to 3-D on a special date with her Daddy. This picture is of her date with Daddy fully decked out in her Rapunzel dress and the Tangled 3-D glasses. We now own the movie, as well.

One Sunday afternoon, Daren and I decided to take the girls to the Austin Zoo. Poor Harper gets manhandled by her big sister who insists upon pushing Harper in her stroller. The trip to the zoo was fun, but I am sure that Harper ended up with whiplash. :-)