Partying like it's 1999

I am reminded daily of many of the reasons why I married my husband. Very rarely I forgot one of the many reasons, but when something reminds me, I fall in love with Daniel all over again. I was reminded recently of Daniel's passion for themed parties. He couldn't cut up a pair of his old jeans fast enough when he found out about a friends 80s themed birthday party. I guarantee you, they would have been WAY shorter if I hadn't been there to monitor.

Oh, and his dance moves! I forgot how great they were. I honestly stood in the corner for the first 30 minutes of the dance party thinking, "I can't believe he is mine!"

Daniel's hand is in an awkward place -- he is not groping me. Definitely not a picture to put up on the living room wall, yet the only one taken of just the two of us in a long time.

So glad we convinced Chris to come with us. He is such a great friend and he, also, comes along with amazing dance moves.

Houston = Civilization

The army wife I met when I moved to Houston came to me via a mother's group in SW Houston. The group is an online community of stay-at-home parents that plan all kinds of activities. I had been hanging out with her for a while, but had yet to attend and actual event. A couple of weeks ago, the girls and I met up with the other parents at Hermann Park to ride the train, have a picnic lunch, and play on the playground. It was really a wonderful day and we met some great people! Emily knew exactly where we were (right next to the zoo) and was talking about elephants the entire time. My military ID has yet to expire, so I figured we might as well stop in and say hello to the animals while we were in the area since it was free. It was a perfect way to spend the day, but after all the activities, I did not want to leave the house for a couple of days. I really need to start taking advantage of the zoo. We live so close, and with it being free still, it would be a shame to pass up amazing trips there.

It took quite a bit of coaxing, but Emily eventually crawled through the tunnel at the fish exhibit. She loves fish. I wonder where she gets it from.

Emily was very insistent on keeping the tickets in her pocket. She would pull them out about every minute, wave them around, then ask me to tuck them back in. Kids are funny.

Note to self: Noon to 1pm is the perfect time to hit up the zoo. All the animals were talking their naps right by the viewing areas. I have never seen so many zoo animals in plain sight before.

We had to stop and take a picture for Uncle Lucas who hates snakes about as much as Daddy hates spiders.

Multitude Mondays - Week Fifteen

266. Books that renew me, especially motherhood books

267. Coming to the realization that I can't think I can control things with kids in my life

268. Understanding that a perfect house may not be in the best interest of my family right now

269. How my past experiences have shaped me

270. A simple morning of getting things done around the house while a cousin plays with the girls

271. Being in a bigger house

272. Starting up my new journal. It's so pretty!

273. Daniel's love for dressing up in costume

274. Cooler weather after Houston's horrible heat

275. Kindle for Mac (see blessing #266)

276. Moms groups that get your connected

277. Getting in free at the zoo (thanks military id that has yet to expire!)

278. Tahoe dying in driveway (versus somewhere in town)

279. our dear friend Chris Berg who is full of wisdom

280. Christian music and how it nourishes my soul

281. blog hopping which led to a great needed resource

282. deer meat being processed

283. that Daniel can provide for our family more than monetarily

284. How accessible our Macbook is

285. The Ministry of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson

286. Not having to wake up for Black Friday unlike last year

287. the peace that comes with being on top of Christmas shopping

288. finding the perfect play kitchen for the girls

289. hearing Cathy Garcia-Pratts speak -- mother of 10 boys ranging from 35 to 17

So close to posting on a Monday!

Mother Heaven

I met a wonderful mom when we first moved to Houston whose husband is currently deployed to Afghanistan. They moved back from overseas and he deployed immediately, so she was going to spend the deployment in Houston with in-laws. It was so wonderful to have someone here to wean myself off of military life. Unfortunately, a house opened up recently for her and her girls in Ft. Hood WAY earlier than expected, so she is in the process of moving in. (Chalk that up to one more military friend lost...) Anyways, she introduced me to Memorial City Mall's indoor playground. It is AMAZING! Who wouldn't love to go to a mall and play? Talk about the perfect option when I need some retail therapy and the girls need to blow off some energy. My girls could have spent all day there! Olivia even loved it, and being indoor, it was baby friendly (as in no wood chips to swallow).

Fall Fair

Daniel's school in Houston had their annual fall fair and we thought the girls would enjoy attending. Emily is scared of anything that could get her heart racing, so many things were out of the question. They had face painting and I knew this was something she would love. It would take a parent to wait in a line for ONE HOUR at a school event just to see the joy on their child's face. It was well worth it, though. She was so excited about it the rest of the day!

While in line, we were discussing what she wanted on her face. Being the day before Halloween, a spider was an option, and she jumped on it right away. Daniel HATES spiders, so we were both trying to convince her to get something else. Even the pretty butterfly from the girl in front of us did not interest her.

She was so excited when we FINALLY got to the front. It was so sweet to her her sit their so patiently. Nothing about her is patient right now. She sure did want that spider!

She was so proud of her spider.

The only other things that interested her was the blow up obstacle course. I can't wait to take advantage of more opportunities like this in the future!

How to fit 3 kids into a double stroller

Option A:

Option B:

Roxy, you are such a good sport

Olivia

I am constantly amazed at my relationship with Olivia. It feels so weird because I don't love her the same way I love Emily. Don't get me wrong, I love her just as much, but it just feels so different. I don't know why, but I was expecting it to feel the same. Daniel keeps telling me all parents feel this way. I mean, it makes sense -- the Lord created her to be a different person, so obviously, I would love her differently. Daniel compared how kids love their two parents differently. I understand that Emily and Olivia have completely different relationships with the two of us, but unfortunately, I don't have that experience in my own life. My father passed away when I was four, so the active love in our household existed between my mother and me. I guess I just always thought you had one type of love for your parents and one type of love for your children. I didn't know it got this complex.

It has been wonderful to add this amazing creation to our family. Olivia surprises me everyday with how different she is from Emily. Every day I say, "I can't get over how different she is from Emily. When Emily was this age, she..." I know Daniel is getting sick of hearing me say this. Hopefully with i the third child (God willing) I will be over the fact of how different kids are. I just melt when look at pictures of her!

No teeth yet, but they are almost there...

This is by far my favorite face of hers...

I feel like she has a completely different look than Emily, but sometimes I look at old pictures of Emily and think they could be twins.

Those are definitely Olivia's cheeks, only, this is a picture of Emily. I can't wait to compare their looks in a couple of year!

Multitude Mondays - Week Fourteen

I hope I never move again. Really. Since we got married, we have lived... 3 months in Lawton, Oklahoma, 3 months as vagabonds, 16 months in Sneads Ferry, North Carolina, 14 months on base at Camp Lejeune, and 6 weeks with the in-laws in Houston. Both of our college careers show similar lists. Is it too much to ask to just be in one place for more than 2 years? I haven't even lived anywhere more than a year and a half since I was in high school. We did just buy a house, though, so hopefully our record will be broken now for the longest stay. It would be so nice to get in a routine and stay in a routine. The thought!

We have slowly gotten back to some sort of schedule and I have slowly gotten over the decorating bug. Time to get on with our life! I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was starting up Multitude Mondays again. I am so overwhelmed with all I have to be thankful for, so I will just type up a brief overview right now. After that, I will start keeping track daily of all the Lord has blessed me with.

Here we go...

246. Seeing the Lord's hand guide us this year

247. A safe move with little loss of sanity

248. Daniel getting the job that we wanted after being in town only 2 weeks

249. Finding the perfect house for our family the first day out (it was actually the first house we looked at)

250. That the girls have adjusted so well with the move

251. Being closer to family and friends

252. Our experience with the Marine Corps

253. Meeting the most amazing women in NC -- the military wife is, by far, the strongest type of woman I know

254. Experiencing civilization again (even if our checkbook doesn't count this as a blessing)

255. Babysitters close by

256. Living close to 4 adorable little cousins who my girls LOVE

257. Getting plugged into this new city (slowly, but surely)

258. Finding an amazing pediatrician

259. Meeting a sweet woman in my Bible study whose son just deployed with the Marine Corps -- she allows me to stay connected, while I hopefully give her some kind of guidance from my experience

260. Learning how much Houston has to offer for young ones

261. Running into an old friend on a dark street while trick-or-treating (more to come on this story!)

262. A friend in NC linking me up to an inspiring mother in Houston

263. Facebook allowing me to keep in touch with all our military friends with a click of a button

264. The power of connections

265. That people actually still read my blog after my hiatus