Houston: Meeting the babies!

One of THE hardest parts about not being in Houston is not being around for the births of my closest friends' babies.  I got a text on November 27 that my best friend was giving birth to her TWO boys.  I have been going crazy for 3 months not getting to see and love on Cash & Walker.

I cannot tell you how happy it made me to finally lay eyes on them and hold them......not to mention just getting to catch up with Mark & Jacqueline.  It was heaven.  And so was Mark's cooking....that never gets old.

Can you believe that Cash was born at 33 weeks 3 months ago?

 I would say that this cutie has definitely caught up in growth!

Cash is a total mini Mark and Walker definitely looks more like Jacqueline.  They are so precious!

    Everytime I see these pictures, I can't help laughing because I feel like I'm looking at pictures of baby Mark Donat.  I mean, he's even got the same expressions~ it kills me!

 and Walker is just super sweet.

love getting to hug on these two!!

 and then cute little Davis!!!  Last time I saw this pumpkin, he was just 6 weeks old!  He is the happiest, sweetest love.....Sheila is so blessed!

 and then my sweet friend Kat just had her TWO little boys late January.  They actually had just come home from the NICU the week before we got to Houston!  I loved getting to hold precious Merrick & Taylor.  Let me say it again, I DETEST not being around to do this all the time!!

Ringing in 2012

My parents generously scheduled their departing flight on New Year's Day so they could watch the kids while Andy and I got out for some adult time.

Well, I don't know that they did that intentionally, but we sure took advantage of the free & available babysitting on NYE.

This group of beautiful girls that I've been blessed with here love to throw a party.

Especially one with a theme.

We were all just excited to be able to get out on New Year's, but Amanda & Karen took it to the next level with Fondue & New Years around the world.

We were supposed to bring an appetizer and bottle of wine from our assigned country.

Our country was Brazil.

and I am a total slacker.

I printed off a pic of Brazilian wine and taped it to my Malbec.

Hey, at least I got the continent right.

I made a spicy black bean dip from my new favorite cookbook.

But I was at least kind of authentic because Brazil is famous for black beans.

Or so I learned yesterday on Google.

Amanda & Karen of course went ALL out.

I really don't know where they find the time.

Karen has a NEWBORN, I might add.

 They had fun facts from each country that we were supposed to pay attention to so we could attempt to win a fabulous prize basket.

Unfortunately, by the time the game came around, the wine was beginning to take it's toll.

Even my bonus points couldn't help me.

 There was a LOT of laughing though.

 I really don't even want to know what these guys put in the fondue pot to get it going, but they were over here for a while.

 Hard at work

Got it Matt!

 Joy & Karen

 Then it was Andy's turn to take the camera.

 Happy New Year!!!!!

Thank you friends for the best New Years Eve we've had in a long time.
Hope that 2012 brings everyone lots of joy and time with those you love.

Thankful

Last night we joined 8 other couples for an adults only early celebration of Thanksgiving.

It was one of the greatest evenings that both Andy and I will remember for quite a while.

There was one kiddo there, but 10 day old Cooper was more than welcome.

I sensed a bit of baby fever from quite a few of the girls.  

And my husband held on to him for over an hour.

I'm just saying.....

Karen got to enjoy her first glass of wine post baby and we all know what a big celebration that is!

Paige and Frank went all out, roasting the turkey,opening their beautiful and SPOTLESS home, and setting two beautiful tables to accommodate everyone.  

The food.

Oh my goodness the food.

Andy and I are still raving about it today.

He said that he weighed himself after work (who does that by the way?)

and weighed himself again after dinner.

He gained 8 pounds.

Sitting around the dinner table, we had the best time.

Let me just say it has been a LONG time since I have shared dinner with this many friends and no kids, maybe over 3 years.  That's how old Addison is.

Stew and Andy made quite the cleaning team.

Why doesn't this happen at my house?

My favorite part of the night was after dinner.

We all went into the living room and went around, sharing what we were thankful for.

It's the kind of activity that you hesitate doing together because it sounds "cheesy" and cliche, but it was an amazing thing.  Every one of us is so blessed.

We all agreed that life is hard, but God is good.

Our cups runneth over.

I've said it before and I"ll say it again.

Andy and I are both amazed at how God has richly blessed us with friends and relationships.

The kind of friendships that feel like they've existed for years instead of months.

We are so thankful.

Summa, Summa, Summertime....

I just sit back and unwind...

Summer, Summer, Summertime...

I just sit back and unwind.

Name that song.

No? No Fresh Prince Jazzy Jeff Fans in the house.....

ah, brings back memories.

Can't believe that it's almost July.

I went walking with some girlfriends this morning and we were huffing and sweating at 9:30am. I got back in my car and the temp read 68.

I'm first to say that I've been quickly spoiled by the weather here.

Andy has to go back to Houston for work in July & August, and noticed that flights were cheap so he asked if I wanted to go.

You know why flights are cheap?

Because it's July & August. And you're flying to Houston.

Houston friends & family, miss you dearly, but I'll see you in September or October.

We've been doing a lot of relaxing around here lately.

Not much to blog about.

A little pool time.... (heated pool, by the way)

Lots of outside time

and a whole lotta friend time.

We also worked Kids Games at our church here, which is the equivalent of Vacation Bible School. I "job shared" with my friend, Emily, because we knew both of our little ones wouldn't be able to make it 5 days in a row in the nursery for 5 hours.

She sent me this picture of Graham that she found on the Kids Games site last night.

You think this was taken around 12:25pm?

Poor guy was exhausted.

Don't even ask me what he's wearing...I really couldn't tell you.

Tonight we had Travis & Stephanie over for Happy Hour, which turned into dinner, drinks & dessert.

We had so much fun.

I think it's safe to say the boys enjoyed it.

And Addison managed to get her cupcake even though her own dinner was barely touched because, well, I wanted to eat mine in peace.

This was the dessert Stephanie brought from Elizabethian bakery.

We are fans.

This was not dessert for all 4 of us by the way.

Individual sampler plates.

Good thing I'm getting serious about my New Years' Resolution starting tomorrow.

I'm serious.

It's been 6 months, I'm not playing anymore.

Or eating....

Or drinking.....

Not what I have been anyway.

All three kids had a blast!

Thanks for helping her up Tyler.

Great to have you back Vinings!!!

Hair help

Last weekend we had an impromptu playdate at Annie's.

For the kids and the adults.

While I was enjoying Annie's recap of it here,

I started to notice something.

No, not the creative use of ....well, I'm not really sure what that net is used for

But.

Addison's hair.

It's in need of a little bit of help.

Andy affectionately refers to it as her

"Dumb & Dumber Jeff Daniels" look.

I just don't know what to do with it anymore.

It's got that natural wave that is going to make the CHI her best friend later in life.

I seriously contemplated starting her on it now, but instead began to google

"cute pre-school girls hair"

Did you know there are blogs dedicated to this?

It was news to me.

But I found one that I couldn't stop reading here.

This girl is working with about 10 times the amount of hair my fine-haired child has

but today I decided that I didn't want Addison to look back on pictures of herself at 3

and wonder why her mommy didn't love her.

I KID.

I decided to start to put a little more effort into it.

I know we've got a long way to go....

but it wasn't too bad for our first...or second...or third try.

And I think she's definitely lost the Jeff Daniel's look.

Addison, your mommy loves you very much.

Just forgive me if Jeff Daniels sometimes wins out on hurried mornings.