Go Texan Day!

What a fun day!  Addy was super excited to wear her rodeo gear to school today.  She even let me put her hair up in pig tails. 

Ella doesn't normally go to school on Fridays, but it was a Purim/Go Texan Day celebration at school so we went up for a while to play with her class.  On Purim they celebrate by dressing up in costumes and there was a parade through the main JCC building.  Then there was a bunch of carnival like activities in the classes.  The activities were topped off with a pony ride, definitely a highlight of the day.  It was a bit chilly, so she had a jacket on, but she is sporting her Tinkerbell costume underneath.  

We got home and I was able to convince her to put on her Go Texan Gear.  Pretty cute little Texan here! 

She May Look Like a Wolf...

but she eats like a Denson!  Love my girl asking for pickles for lunch!

PJ Day

Valentines Day at Addy's school was pj day.  The kids made Valentines at school for all of their friends in the class and I think that they had a fun casual day in their pjs.  We were talking about what Addy was going to wear and she said she wanted to wear her red nightgown.  I thought that she was taking about her red princess nightgown from Christmas.  Nope, she was talking about the nightgown Granny got her a few years ago, she LOVES it still.  Here she is on Valentines, headed to school. 

Mardi Gras 2013

Another fun year, with much better weather. 

 There were no weather delays this year, but we tend to park near the end of the parade route, so it takes a while before we actually see any action.  Fortunately the Expedition doubles as a jungle gym, both inside and out, so the wait wasn't too bad.

 This would be an example of an elaborate float for the parade.  You have this and next to them is a group of people on their golf cart!  Good ol' Bolivar!

 I'm pretty sure we got more beads this year than last.  Towards the end I think that the beads were close to tumping Ella over she had so many on her.

 Here is Ms. A with some of her beads.  

And here is the after the parade shot with all of the beads piled up.  Seriously need to think of some craft projects or something to use up some of our beads!  

 And we even managed to make it to the beach each day!  Here are the girls acting as queens of the dunes. 

Kindergarten Field Trip

Ella and I got to join Addy and the rest of the Kolter kindergarteners at the Children's Museum on Friday.  It was a fun field trip that I was impressed was very well organized, I'm not a huge fan of the museum because it is so big, it is hard to keep multiple kids corralled.  But we were there for a few hours and didn't lose any of the 24 in our group, or Ella! 

 I've never been to the bottom level of the museum, but they have all kind of supplies to make rockets, parachutes and other things, then they have a wind tunnel to launch the parachute type things and a place where you can launch your rockets.

And this is Doctor Ella.  Pretty sure Ella could have spent the whole time here in the "vet", giving the kitties checkups.  She was certainly not a fan when we needed to leave!

Zoo Time

A bit of warm weather and no immediate need to clean the house or work on projects  = zoo time on Mommy - Ella Day. 

Ella the Fashionista

About 3 years ago, Addy was our little fashionista, always coming up with super creative outfits to make us laugh.  Well, it is Ella's turn now and fortunately she is a little better (for now) when it comes to school outfits - she'll accept our comment about things not matching and not insist on wearing plaid and polka dots, for example.  Her favorite these days is putting on leotards when we are hanging out around the house.  Here are some of my recent favorites...

 She left her shirt on, has 2 legs in the same hole and is sporting black socks and black tap shoes.  

Again, shirt is still on, got one leg in each hole and she has her socks and crocs on.  Plus a birthday cake headband.  And you'll see Addy has not changed too much, with her sun hat and rain boots!

Little Artists

 Addy spent quite a lot of time drawing all of the characters in the girls' favorite tv show Doc McStuffins.  

And here is Ella's version of the same characters!

Family New Years Eve

I think that this was a first too - normally the kids get shipped to the grandparents for New Years Eve, but this year we started a new family tradition of going to the beach house.  It was a bit chilly, but we had a nice long stay.

 Very low tide, no waves, gorgeous winter day at the beach.  Hard to believe this is the same place that was covered with sea weed a few months earlier.

 Notice the sand on Ella's back side?  Yeah, it was all over her pants and all in her boots.

 This would be the reason for the sand everywhere - although we tried to clarify that you don't sit in the sand in your clothes, she might as well have been in a swimsuit.  

Another first for the girls - fireworks! It is always fun to visit the fine folks at the fireworks stand.  Nothing too fancy, just some sparklers and Roman candles.  We also got some spinning ladybug things that the fireworks lady said were fun for kids.  The darn things spun around making this loud noise, sparks flying everywhere and then it shot off into the air.  No clue where they ended up.  I was pretty sure that Addy would like the sparklers, but figured she'd drop the Roman candle and run when it shot off at first.  But she was a fireworks pro.  Closely supervised of course!

Ella and I spent most of the time inside watching through the window.  Too loud apparently, not so much of a fan...

Christmas 2012

Everyone was healthy, everyone was happy, overall a great Christmas.  Christmas Eve started with a family trip to church, which was a first.  We went to the family service mid-afternoon and it was short and very much geared towards kids.  I knew Addy would be fine, wasn't sure what Ella would do, but she was great.  Maybe a little talking during the prayer, but no worse than any other 2 year old in the sanctuary. 

Finished off Christmas Eve with a yummy dinner at the Wolfs.  Thanks again to Bob and Mary for sending such a yummy brisket!  As usual ate, ate until we were stuffed and then headed home to get ready for Santa. 

Not only did Santa get some fancy sugar cookies, but Addy left some carrots for the reindeer, which were gobbled up by morning.  She also did a little art for Santa to take to remember his stop at the Wolf house!  Ella is missing from the pic below because the day's activities were in the middle of nap time, so she basically came home, put on pjs and went straight to bed.  Even tried to get her up to come help with the cookies and milk and would have nothing to do with it!

 Santa didn't go overboard this year, he was nice and took into consideration the fact that our house is already busting at the seams with toys, but the girls both got what they asked for.

 The only thing on Addy's wish list was skates and she got her skates. 

 Ella's wish list was a bit vague, but Santa knew she'd love a kitten pillow pet. 

 Ella was not 100% into opening the packages yet, but big sister came to help.

 Crafts anyone?

 Doc McStuffins arrived on Yarwell.  Doc and her friends were definitely a highlight of the day.

 Christmas day and Addy is in a skirt and short sleeve shirt.  Our friends and family in Dallas were getting snow on Christmas day, but it worked out well that we got 70 degree weather so that Addy could practice.  

 "Cheese"

  The only real thing on Ella's wish list was "a Dora present".  She left it pretty open for interpretation.  So, she got a Dora doll, a Dora trike and a Dora kiddie size patio set for outside.  Santa and the grandparents did great deciphering her wish.

Christmas Day wrapped up with a yummy dinner at Jean and Tom's.  As always, great times with the family.  I went to dinner with intentions of taking a lot of family pics.  I wasn't completely successful, but did manage to get one great one of the four of us with Granny!

Family College Station Visit

For six years now, we've been talking about needing to make a family trip to College Station to see my friend Rachel and her family.  We've seen Rachel and Elaine at least once a football season, but they'd never met the girls.  We finally made it!  Had a super fun time, got to spend some time with Rachel and then got to run around campus with the girls.  I think that the girls had a great time - I've never looked at campus from the parent perspective, but there is a lot for the kids to see and on a random December weekend, there was plenty of free space to run around.  That being said, there wasn't a lot of sitting still for picture purposes, but I got a few.

 I didn't spend a lot of time on main campus and maybe saw this fountain a few times during my time at A&M.  The girls could have spent the entire afternoon there.  

 Pretty flowers attract butterflies and little girls.

I guess maybe the corp uses these monkey bars during drills or something.  They were crazy tall, but Ella really wanted to hang from them.  Michael was just barely able to get her up there.  

Thanksgiving 2012

Another great Thanksgiving.  Pretty much the same routine as every other year.  Great time with family and yummy food. 

 This year Ella was big enough to help with the green bean casserole.

 Very focused green bean stirring. 

 The annual turkey dunk.

 Cute family pic minus Addison.  She had a big slumber party with Aunt Jean, Uncle Tom, Betsy and Granny and they hadn't made it to the party yet.

We kind of wondered why all of the guys volunteered to sit with the kids and then before we know it, the TV was unpaused and they were watching the Texans. 

Silly Ella

She always keeps us laughing...

For a couple of days, I'd go in to get Ella up from her nap and she 'd be sleeping on Big Dog.  One day he was more of a pillow, the next a full mattress.  

Ella LOVES White Kitten.  Here Meow, Meow White Kitten is giving Ella a hug.  She totally comes up with this stuff, not us!