Happy Valentine's Day!

Dave and Katelyn went on a very special daddy/daughter date for Valentine's Day! Katelyn got to choose where they went to dinner (she picked Schlotsky's), and they both got all dressed up. Dave even picked her up at the door...her bedroom door. :) Here are some sweet pictures from their evening together.





In other Valentine's news, we also took a trip to our favorite nursing home to visit our special friends. Katelyn had just received a big book of Valentine's stickers from her great grandmother, so it worked out perfectly for her to share with not only the residents, but the nurses and other personnel too!

Who loves to share her stickers??!!

As another fun part of our Valentine's Day, we made and decorated
sugar cookies for our neighbors!

Anna is One!

Happy Birthday Anna! She is officially one as of Thursday, February 9. Instead of one big birthday festivity, we had a lot of mini festivities for her birthday....first, my sister Jessica came in town the weekend before Anna's birthday (Love you Jess! Thanks for coming!). We had cupcakes and pizza and sang happy birthday! Anna wasted no time eating the whole cupcake. She loves her some buttercream icing just like her mommy! Next up, my mom was in town for a business conference, so she came over for dinner the night before Anna's birthday and we had steaks, baked sweet potatoes, salad, and chocolate chip birthday cookies! The final celebration was on Anna's special day. We had birthday cinnamon rolls that morning, and then the girls and I made a special visit to Anna's actual birthplace...Flower Mound Presbyterian Hospital. We enjoyed a little snack in the cafe, walked around the maternity ward (taking note of the room mommy stayed in), and took a peak in the gift shop. Fun times! We love you Anna Grace and praise the Lord for your 1st year of life!

Anna 1 year

Katelyn 1 year

Sisterly love...

The cupcake.



Singing Happy Birthday!

The devouring of the cupcake.

Devouring of the chocolate chip birthday cookie

Birthday morning cinnamon rolls!



A birthday morning interview with Anna

The hospital.

Katelyn and Anna perusing some reading material at the hospital lobby

Look Who's Talking...and Clapping!

Anna officially said her first word....we think. She told Dave "Hi!" and she also clapped for herself, unprompted. Two very exciting milestones! Check out the video below to see for yourself. :)

11 months!

Anna turned eleven months today! For all of you math whizzes out there, that is one month away from being one year old! What in the world?!! Where did this past year go, and how did it go so quickly? Here are the 11 month pictures, and some videos of the progress our Anna is making in her mobility (crawling, pulling up, cruising all happened within a couple weeks--I couldn't blog fast enough!). Enjoy!

Anna

Katelyn

Sweet Smiles. Sweet Sisters.

Crawling

Pulling Up

Cruising

BFFs

Bethany, Jenny, and I have been friends since our freshman year of college at Baylor (15 years ago!!). Through many miles and kids, we have remained friends and always cherish the time we have together. We all got together for dinner when Bethany and her family came for a holiday visit from Bellingham, WA. Although dinner was awesome, my favorite time was the "girls night out coffee date" after the dads put the kids to bed! We figured that it had been at least five years (when Jenny had the first baby of the group) since the three of us sat down to chat...uninterrupted. Looking forward to the next reunion!

Bethany, Jenny, and me

The kiddos: Micah, Levi, Karis, Jordi, Katelyn, Anna, and Taylor

I'll be home for Christmas...kind of.

This was our first year since we've been married to wake up in our own home on Christmas morning. Though we have enjoyed our time traveling each year, there was also something special about waking up with the girls in our own home this Christmas. Also worth mentioning, for one of my Christmas presents this year, Dave made Christmas dinner! What a treat!

Twas the night before Christmas....

Granny (Dave's mom) got Katelyn this awesome princess bike! Although Granny gave it to Katelyn a few days before Christmas, Katelyn didn't see it all put together (thanks to Daddy's hard work!) and ready to ride until Christmas morning.

The aftermath...now I know why I didn't get more pictures than I did!

Enjoying her new bike

Daddy helping her ride over the bridge

Sign her up for the Tour de France!

Christmas dinner courtesy of Dave-beef wellington, mashed potatoes, and steamed spinach. Yummy!

Katelyn's Preschool Christmas Program

We enjoyed Katelyn's Christmas program again this year! We hope you do too as you look at the pictures and click on the video below to view a small portion of it.

Group shot (2's, 3's, and 4's)

Katelyn (in middle)

Proud little sister

Class picture

Celebrating at Freddy's Frozen Custard after the performance