Snow in Texas

Yesterday it did not get out of the 30's all day, not very normal for Houston. On my drive home yesterday, I went through some real light snow flurries. After we ate dinner, we had really big snowflakes falling. They weren't sticking to the ground where we live, but my parents house had a good amount stick the ground and cover their whole yard.

Katherine had fun trying to catch them, but after about 10 minutes, she was cold and wanted to go watch Dora.

It was a nice surprise two weeks before Christmas. Some of the pictures around town are amazing how much snow some people got, makes my pictures look a little sad!

The bottom picture is from my parents house since they had a lot more snow.

Christmas Cookies

My work had a Christmas party for the kids this weekend. They got to decorate Christmas cookies. Last year Katherine was not very interested in it, but this year she loved it. She was VERY concentrated on decorating her cookies. They had candies out to put on the cookies, Katherine would put one on the cookie, eat one, put one on the cookie, and so on.

She seemed to really like decorating with the blue icing. Which was fun when we got home and let her eat it, then we had blue icing everywhere!

Matt enjoy himself too! He was trying to make a really nice one, but Katherine soon took that over and put her own flare on it. Somehow I walked away with the most mess on my jeans!

Santa showed up with some gifts for the kids. I was surprised to see Katherine was very excited, stood in line, and went right up to Santa, sat next to him, and got her gift. Last year.. she had little to do with Santa.

Christmas Tree

Friday night, it was nice and chilly, and we decided to go get our Christmas tree. We always said when we get a two story house, we wanted a big tree, well we got our wish this year. Our tree is about 11-12 feet tall. It didn't look that tall when it was out in the field at the tree lot, but the size really showed up at home. I am very impressed Matt carried it in all by himself. At the tree lot, it took 3 men to carry it!

We had to get a ladder to help with the lights and ornaments. But it was all worth it, it is the most beautiful tree we have ever had. Katherine loves to turn the lights on and sit and stare at it. She gets mad when we have to turn it off.

20 Weeks - Halfway there

This Saturday marked the halfway point in our pregnancy. 20 weeks down, 20 more to go!

Matt took some pictures this weekend, so everyone can see my belly. I started to show a lot sooner this time than with Katherine. But doctor says that's normal. I am on track with weight gain, right in the middle, so that's good. The baby is moving around a lot in there, but so far only I can feel him. I keep making Matt put his hand on my stomach and ask .. "did you feel that".. but he can't just yet. Katherine talks and kisses the baby, but some days still tells you she has a baby in her belly. Not sure what she thinks of it all yet, or how much she understands. Seger, our cat, was sitting in my lap this weekend, and Katherine told him to get off the baby!

Here are some pictures and of course Katherine had to get her picture taken too!

WE ARE HAVING A.........

WE ARE HAVING A BOY! Sorry for the poor picture quality.

Katherine is going to have a little brother come April. We are all so happy and excited. Guess we will be needing to buy new clothes.. of course Katherine has nothing that is "unisex"! All her clothes have always been super girly.

This weekend we went and looked at "big girl beds" for Katherine, now that we need the crib her her brother! She really like one bed that you climbed up and slide down... but there is NO way she is getting that one. I can just imagine hearing her at 3:00am going "WEEEEEE".

Not sure how much she really understands that she is getting a little baby brother. Sure she has no clue how her life will change. But I know she will love him and be a good big sister.. even though it means sharing EVERYTHING. Maybe he will enjoy of her tea parties.. like Matt, the dog, cat, and I do!

Scenic Pictures

Too pretty not to post

McKinney Falls Part 2

Here are some more pictures from our hike.

Hiking at McKinney Falls

Saturday morning we got up and drove to McKinney Falls State Park and went on a nice hike. It was beautiful weather. Katherine had a blast going through the woods and playing in the water. I was quite proud of myself for hiking being 5 months pregnant and not breaking a sweat!

After our great hike, we headed into Austin and at hamburgers on 6th at Casino El Camino. Russell saw a special on it on the Food Network, so we had to try it out. It was so good, everyone ate themselves into misery.

Camping - Lake Bastrop

We took Katherine on her first camping trip this weekend. We got a great spot on Lake Bastrop outside of Austin. We had great weather, except the first night was pretty cold, down to 36 degrees. But thank god Grandma and Grandpa brought extra sleeping bags and coats for everyone. We had lots of ducks on our side of the lake, so Katherine enjoyed talking to them. We cooked out at the camp fire, roasted marshmallows, made smores, and enjoyed being out of the house.

If Everyone Had an Afro

Saturday we went over to Russell's house to help build his fence that he lost to Ike. Well Matt went to help, while Katherine and I played. Russell had an Afro wig left over from a Halloween party he went to and Katherine loved making everyone put it on. The amazing thing is that BESIDES the picture of her, ALL the pictures were taken BY KATHERINE. She is going to be a photographer! At two, she is pretty handy with the digital camera.

Trick or Treat

Katherine had two costumes this year. At school she was a witch, minus the hat since her head was too big! To go trick or treating, she wore the fairy costume grandma and papa got her at the Renaissance Festival. She was so excited to get candy. She was very well mannered and told everyone "Please" "Thank you" and "trick-or-treat". Though two house she went to, she just smiled and shouted "CANDY"! Her bucket got so full, she was dragging it, but she would not let anyone else touch it, it was HER candy! She better learn to start sharing REAL soon.

Halloween Pumkins

We carved our pumpkins last night. Katherine at first didn't want to touch it, but then had fun digging everything out… but she had to say "EWWWW" each time she pulled stuff out.
For Katherine's we did one of her favorite shows.. Blues Clues. She thought it was so cool when we turned off the lights and lit the candles. She sat there and stared at them for about 20 minutes.

Nice Fall Day at the Beach

We took a drive down to Galveston just to get out of the house and to see what it looks like a month after Hurricane Ike hit. There are so many houses that will and can never be rebuilt. The state park where we spent most of our summer, has been torn apart. It was hard to even recognize it. But a two year old doesn't notice, Katherine was so happy to go play in the sand. She kept inching toward the water, but I told her it was too cold to go into. So we made sandcastles and drew pictures in the sand instead.