It's a boy!

Meet the 2nd male in the fish family....Herbie

Now for the story:

Audrey got a fish from a birthday party the morning we picked up my mom. They pleaded with me to let them keep it and and I caved. Since my mom knows and loves fish, we knew it was a perfect outing to do with Gram. We went to the pet store and bought all we needed for a fish. They decided on a name...Sunny. They girls were sooo excited. When the kids ran in the door ready to give Sunny a better home they found he was belly up. I guess goldfish need filters.

On Sunday my mom printed a sheet out with Beta Fish Facts and Claire and Hallie learned all out Beta Fish. My mom even did a quiz (my girls love stuff like that) and they studied (so cute) ;) On the way to school the next day they were spouting fish facts to Audrey Bird as we carpooled to school. I loved hearing little bits of the conversation. "Their water is room temperature...about 77 degrees." "The males have big and colorful fins, not the females." I love those girls and my mom.

For FHE we went back to the pet store and bought a beta fish (they seem to have a longer life expectancy). When we were leaving we saw another family we knew. They were getting a beta fish too. Their daughter had been also been to the party. And they also had a dead goldfish. I love it.

Julia LOVES saying hi to Herbie. The girls love him. They love that they have a pet. They love to feed him. They love to watch him while they eat dinner...and lunch...and breakfast. I will say that I successfully changed the water after she left and the fish is still alive. I think the 14 day money back for death guarantee is passing but the girls don't need to know that.

Welcome to the family, Herbie!

Visitors...and celebrities!

My mom was a genius and booked a foreign language conference in Fort worth the weekend before her Spring Break. We picked her up when the conference was over and got to spend the whole week with her. Then Grandpa flew in and we got to spend time with both of them!!!

The girls counted down the days and were beyond excited to see them. Gram and Grandpa were celebrities for the week. Who gets to sit by Granpa at dinner? Who gets to sit by Gram in the car? Who gets to read a book with Grandpa? Who's bracelet is Gram making? The girls were constantly aware of who's turn was next.

My mom was scheduled every day with things to do with the girls. She was a trooper! My parents ate lunch at the school with the girls. My mom served the 3rd grade classes on around the world day. The girls took turns having one on one with my parents and enjoyed every second. I even got to go get my hair done!

Bass pro, Children's Museum, Latin food, Mexican food, date night, Costco ice cream, Sam Moon, early out days from school and work, books, American Girl store, Cadbury Mini Egg cookies, green smoothies, walks and time at the park, books, visits downtown, Zeb's office, Castle episodes, making earrings, cuddling and lots of hugs sums up our week with Gram and Grandpa. We had so much fun with them!

The battery died a few days before they left so my mom has those pictures. We had such a great week and many tears were shed after dropping them off. We love you, Mom and Dad. Thanks for coming. Can't wait til next time.

My Baby is 2!!!

This little angel of ours is already 2! I can't believe it. She has so much energy she could run a half marathon herself!

Some of the things we love about Julia:

The way she says, "I lu you," when she goes to bed (and all throughout the day for that matter).

As soon as my driver door shuts after getting in the car and the keys are in the ignition, Julia is yelling, "buckle mommy, buckle," until I am clicked in.

Every time she is sitting at the table and you walk in the room she says, "by you," She wants you to sit by her. Love it.

She is saying sentences and talking like crazy.

She says cupcake, coop cake...it's adorable.

Love that she hasn't tried to climb out of her crib!

She pulls the goofiest faces I have ever seen. She is such a character.

Things we could do without, but love her all the same:

That she learned how to open doors with child locks on them 12 hours after I put them on.

That she throws her food on the floor faster than you can blink and likes to smash food in her hands as well. There is always a LOT of clean up at meal time.

That she is into everything and moves from place to place destroying things.

That she is growing up too fast.

But with a smile like this she melts our hearts.

On her birthday, after sneaking 2 cupcakes while I wasn't looking and finding her toy in my room before I wrapped it, we sang to Julia. A few days later we did a family party with Josh and Carol and Eric and Cindy. (Pics to come.) She was so cute when we sang to her. She just grinned from ear to ear!!!

She was quite the little pro at blowing out her candles.

She is the only 2 year old we have had that has been excited about getting clothes for presents. It was so fun to watch her open them.

Please note that these pants were not what I had on her that day. I am not color blind. She spilled all over herself just before we started the pics and zeb grabbed those....aren't they great? ;)

The toy she already knew about. She is such a ham.

A picture with all my girls together, while smiling, is hard to get. But this will do!

The girls were so excited to celebrate Julia. We love you, JULES!!!!!!