a pre-birthday party

We were lucky enough to have my mom, sister, and nephew here for a couple days the week of Sophie’s birthday (and the month of Jenny’s birthday).  It was a quick visit but we relished every moment.  I sure love my family, thank you for coming guys!

We went straight from the airport in the afternoon to the Nature and Science Museum because they were having another free day.  I had forgotten to bring my camera to the airport though, so no pictures. :(  They closed at 5 and we went home.

It was Februrary 13th, so when we got home Grandma whipped out a ton of Valentine making stuff and these cute head bands.  Sophie made several valentines for her friends.  Tessa likes the ideas of stickers, but ended up taking all of her stickers off, she can’t commit I guess.  Just on and off with Tess, until the stick is all gone.  She’s in process in the pic below. :)

This picture makes me laugh because usually Grandma can do no wrong, but I guess hair brushing hurts no matter who is doing it.  But Sophie didn’t cry for Grandma… interesting.  But she really does love her, see:

Tessa really enjoyed Jenny oozing over her jewelry, such a girl.  {BTW - Can you see the boy jeans over the back of the chair?  They were part of a bunch of baby boy clothes my mom brought for us, we didn’t know what we were having yet… I am convinced my mom is either a)physic or b)has special privileges with God, because she’s always right!}  Dean went to bed pretty early that night, but here he is the next morning just so proud of himself for getting in that chair on his own!  He has the cutest smile and bright eyes, he’s going to be a big brother in just a couple months, so exciting.

 

All the kids in the morning, Dean would rather investigate his head gear rather than wear it.  Maybe he knew it was the wrong holiday to wear antlers. :)

Sophie went to her preschool Valentines party that morning while Dean napped and then he woke up just as it was my girls’ nap time (of course!).  So I took the monitor with me so I could hear the girls and we went out for a walk around the apartment complex.  Dean’s learning to run, he wants to so bad!  It’s very cute.  It was a beautiful day, don’t let the snow on the ground fool you, it was sunny and warm, no jackets required (unless you are from Houston and can’t handle anything under 70, although they eventually shed their coats too.)

Dean really just wanted to play in the puddles, Jenny didn’t really want that. :)  Here’s a bump check, Jen is 2 months ahead of me.  Not that you can even tell!  It’s fun to be pregnant the same time as her, she’s having a girl (in May) and we’re having a boy (in July).

After the girls were up we went over to the park by the university that we love.  Dean was supposed to nap in the van while the girls played but he ended up coming out to play instead.  He never held still much, just have this picture of the back of his head. I know these pictures of my girls in short sleeves next to snow covered ground look terrible, but I PROMISE it was really warm!

After the park we headed down towards Dan’s office and went to a maternity store… a dangerous place for my mom to recommend with 2 pregnant daughters.  She treated Jenny to a really pretty dress and me to the darling shirt (which I love and wear at least once a week) which I am wearing in the framed picture at the beginning of this post.  Thanks Mom! 

And as if that wasn’t enough, she insisted that she should take us out to dinner.  Dan met us at Red Robin.  Here’s Sophie with her complementary birthday treat, and a scary smile.  Notice Dan trying so hard to be noticed, out of focus in the 2nd picture.

We all shared Sophie and Jenny’s ice cream.  Oh yeah, get after it Tess!

Then they left the next morning, after some couch photos on the timer.  (Look for me trying to get the kids to smile in the mirror reflection, kind of cheesy.)

Thanks again for making the trip out Mom and Jen, it was lovely to have you as our guests!