dallas, smu and a sprinkle

Daniel and I headed to Dallas last week before my 30th birthday. It was our first time to be in Dallas and at SMU without the girls since before they were born - total treat! We stayed in a hotel across from SMU and enjoyed feasting at Cafe Brazil and Half Shells - two of our old favorite places to eat while at college. We had gone to SMU on Thursday night to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Hunt Scholarship... Daniel, being the smarty he is, was a Hunt Scholar at SMU and was a part of the planning committee. We got to see lots of SMU friends and hear from President Turner all of the wonderful happenings around SMU. It definitely made us leave feeling proud of our alma mater and made me ready to commit Emma and Claire to the class of 2032! Afterward we went with friends to Gloria's for drinks, chips and queso - we had so much fun laughing and catching up. Crazy to think we are all parents now. 

Friday we spent the entire day walking around SMU. We stopped by Jenny's store - Uptown Country Home - and bought the cutest dresser for Henry's room. (Side note - everything in there is adorable and I would have cleaned shop if Daniel would have let me!) We spent about an hour with Jenny and it made us wish we lived closer to her and Loren. After some shopping, we headed over to the Bush Library. Wow. If you live in Dallas or are visiting soon - you have to check it out! Politics aside, everyone should go. It's amazing... it's beautifully built, the grounds are gorgeous and the 9-11 exhibit is gut-wrenching. Truly powerful and incredible to think it's on SMU's campus. We ended up eating a late lunch at Cafe 43, the cafe there at the Bush Library. Ummmm... SO GOOD. I would definitely recommend that as well! Order Laura's famous cowboy cookies with W's favorite homemade banana-pecan ice cream for dessert. Trust me, it's the best thing ever. 

SMU continues to be beautiful and amaze us how it grows and gets better. The new basketball stadium is so cool - we are totally making it up for a game next season. The new residential quad will blow you away. We walked over to Boaz Hall, went into all of our old classroom buildings, student center, etc... it was definitely a walk down 'memory lane' and really a perfect day. Daniel and I had the pleasure of talking with several high school seniors and we kept saying "you will not regret it!" and "we would come back and do it again!" ... all of them said after being on the campus, they felt SMU was the right place for them! 

That night we headed to Fort Worth and Saturday my mom and Laura hosted a little sprinkle for Henry and me. It was perfect - there were just eight of us there and it was a perfect balance of conversation, delicious food and presents! Henry is set when it comes to clothes. Laura brought a ton of stuff that was CJ's and my cousin Erin already sent me a big box of stuff from Caden. We got books, burp clothes, blankets, art work and more clothes... Daniel and I kept saying "well this sure does make everything more real!" Amazing to think that Henry will be here in just 8 weeks! 

Overall, the weekend was just wonderful (beside the atrocious traffic coming back into Houston) and I am thankful for grandparents and godparents who kept Emma and Claire so Daniel and I could kick off my 30th the best way possible!

family road trip // part one

We went on our first road trip this month last weekend... we left Thursday for Dallas to meet my sweet niece, Landry. She really is the most precious thing!! So sweet, so little... we were all smitten. Of course, having a one week old, I assume my house will be a disaster and I will look like someone recovering from labor/delivery/surgery... Laura looked like Carrie Underwood and her house was spotless. No sibling competition there or anything, ha! Joking aside, Laura looks healthy and happy, CJ has adjusted well so far and Landry is pretty perfect. We didn't get to see Uncle Colby since he was out of town for work, but based on stories and pictures, Landry has Daddy wrapped around her finger... just like it should be!

From Dallas we drove over to Tyler to celebrate our friends' wedding. Austin is our current worship leader and we've become friends with his fiancé (now wife!), Claire - or as my girls call her "big Claire". Emma and Claire were the flower girls and were very much looking forward to the wedding. It was a good practice run for when they are flower girls again for Aunt Jessica's wedding (which is very close!!). Traveling with two busy three year olds is tough work. Daniel and I need a vacation from our "vacation" - but at least we are lugging two pack-n-plays everywhere and they sleep well at night. They did such a great job walking down the aisle and listening to the directions given by the wedding coordinators. I teared up when they walked down the aisle then sweat my face off during the ceremony because they wouldn't stop talking - come on preacher's kids!! I think they are just too comfortable in a church (which, I guess, is a good thing). After the wedding we danced the night away and had a blast. Really, so much fun. My pregnant body didn't thank me for that the next morning, but it was totally worth it. 

Sunday we worshipped at Dayspring UMC in Tyler where our friend Matt is the pastor. His wife Margaret was our good friend at SMU and it was so wonderful to see their church and meet their kids - silly that it took so long for us to all get together, but it felt like our kids had known each other and they played so well together! It was a great way to end our trip. Now we are home for a little bit before we hit the road again for New Orleans. Can't wait!

Emma and Landry

Irving Family on the dance floor - light up glasses and all!!

The bride and flower girls - so sweet!

Landry - the most precious little girl!!

All in love with the newest member of our family!!

mother's day / dfw trip

Claire, Jean, Emma, Lulu, CJ, Laura and KK

Hello! It's been too long. I actually love blogging and am sorry it's been two weeks... from Emmaus (which was amazing - and thanks Daniel for the blog post!) to work to traveling, things have been busy. I decided last minute that I needed to go to Dallas. My mom was supposed to come down here but plans changed. This was the one weekend that I really didn't have much on my plate and could take the girls up for a few days. It was so worth the drive in crazy weather and the wildness that is two year old twins. We had a great time seeing family, meeting cousin Elle and celebrating my Mom! Here are some pics from the weekend... 

Claire, CJ and Emma

Claire holding Elle for the first time - precious!

Caden and Emma racing in the kitchen

Emma Grace

CJ

Clairebear

I love Emma's smile and hand in this picture.
She was obsessed with Elle... had to get 100 pacis, the blanket, kissed her, shushed us(!)... it was so sweet.

best part of the weekend though was coming home to my sweet husband, who I have probably seen ten days this month... he got the new GP cookbook I wanted and made me a Game of Thrones toy for my desk at work - he named it Jeanarys Targaryen - Mother of Dragons... if you watch the show or have read this book, this should make you laugh. I love that man so much... never a dull moment or dull gift. 

Labor Day Getaway :: Dallas

Claire, CJ and Emma snuggled up in CJ's crib

Daniel and I decided last week that we needed to go to Dallas for Labor Day weekend. We wanted to see family - specifically, it was time for Emma, Claire and Daniel to meet CJ. We drove up on Thursday afternoon and, to my surprise, the girls did great. We stayed with my Mom and the girls definitely soaked up as much Lulu time as possible. Friday morning we went straight to Laura's house for the day. Emma and Claire were in baby cousin heaven. They sang to him, they held him, they patted him, they threw toys at him (ha!)... the pictures I got of the three of them together I will cherish forever. Laura looks great and Colby love being a dad. I am so happy for my sweet sister!

After getting in the Laura/Colby/CJ fix, we drove up to Frisco to see my Papa and BonBon and my cousins Erin, Nick and their son Cade. Cade is one year younger than the girls and taller and bigger. He was cracking me up!! He's going to tower over the girls and I love it. Erin is one of my favorite people on the planet and to be raising kids together is so special. That night, Daniel and I got to "get out" while mom stayed home with the girls... Daniel and I realized that exactly TEN years ago that weekend we met in Boaz Hall at SMU. So what better way to spend our date night? Sneak in to Boaz Hall and go take a picture where we met! It wasn't that hard to sneak in... Daniel looks like a cute frat boy still and we were let right in. Walking around SMU campus brought up so many memories. We just walked for two hours talking about all that we did and shared there... crazy to think it's been six years since I graduated and the new freshman class is the class of 2016!

Saturday we got up early and went to the SMU bookstore to get the girls tshirts. Then, we went over to Snider Plaza and shopped at Uptown Country Home... I bought Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in French Linen, Wax and a wax brush... I could have bought everything in Jenny's store but we just didn't have the time to really "shop". We met Jenny and her fiance Loren for lunch at Bubba's (the best fried chicken/rolls/mashedpotatoes ever. like ever ever.)... and a huge surprise - Daniel's twin cousins Justin and Joshua were in town from Tuscaloosa for the Alabama game and they joined us, too! Daniel did some premarital / wedding planning stuff with Jenny and Loren on one end and I got to catch up with the boys on the other. Again, Emma and Claire were in cousin heaven. I got to catch up with Jenny about work, wedding planning and storage wars. She's such an amazing person - it's a blessing to see her so happy and successful. We came back after lunch so Daniel could be ready to go for Sunday morning. It was a jam-packed weekend but so worth it. It's weekends like that I wish I lived in Dallas. 

Here are my favorite pics from the weekend!

Perkins Chapel @ SMU

Joshua and Daniel

Justin and Claire

Daniel, Claire, Loren, Emma, Jenny and me... we are all laughing at Emma...
let's just say Emma wasn't feeling too well at this point, poor girl. 

blurry pic, but that's us in front of Daniel's old room in Boaz Hall

Uncle Daniel and CJ

CJ and Claire... she just stared at him the entire time. 

CJ and my favorite girls

Emma was very good at rubbing CJ's head and belly very softly... she kept telling me "Shh!"

Claire and Caden... they were both very intrigued with one another!!

dallas trip

We were in Dallas from Thursday - Monday. What a great trip we had! It was full from start to end, but we got to see family and friends, celebrate some very special people and eat delicious food (always a plus when you're in Dallas!). 

One milestone we can celebrate is that we finally have the girls forward-facing in the car. They look too big in these pictures! They are getting so big so fast. I know that it's suggested you keep your kids rear-facing until 2, but we made it to 22 months and 25 pounds. So, we flipped them. They didn't get it at first but once Daniel and I sat in the front seat, they realized they could see a whole new view... and Claire for the first thirty minutes of the trip kept asking "What's that? What's that? What's THAT?!?"... oh, and note how crammed our car is. You'd think a Highlander could accommodate a family of four... but twin toddlers have a lot of crap: pack-n-plays, booster seats, diapers, snacks, toys, etc... Poor Daniel... he had the whole car packed and realized he had forgotten to put his golf clubs in. Luckily, with the car seats facing forward now, they fit on the floorboard. :) 

Once we made it to Dallas (that is a long trip with kids), Daniel drove to Fort Worth to surprise his best friend, Robbie. Daniel played golf in Ft. Worth early Friday morning and I took the girls to Snider Plaza to visit my cousin's store, Uptown Country Home, and eat lunch with my grandparents. I bought two Pine Cone Hill shams for the girls' "big girl room" - can't wait to post pics. 

We went to Dallas for two reasons: 1) One of Daniel's high school best friends, Jeremy, was getting married and Daniel was officiating and 2) I hosted a baby shower for my sister Laura. Everything went very smoothly and we had a blast being with all of our favorite people. Jeremy and Yeny looked so happy and the wedding was so special - Daniel did some of the service in Spanish! Laura looks beautiful (as always) - but she definitely has the pregnancy glow! I can't believe the next time I  see her will be when she has CJ in her arms!

We topped off the trip by deciding to stay until Monday - we had lunch with Dan, Jen and the kiddos (some of our best friends) and then had a yummy dinner at Mattitos with more best friends, Robbie and Ashley, and ended the night with Top Golf. That was SO much fun! Daniel said he'd move to Dallas for Top Golf... good thing Houston has one coming to our area or our church would be very sad. ha!

Here are some pics of the weekend:

Daniel and me at Reata for Jeremy's Rehearsal Dinner
(wearing birthday blouse from in-laws (anthropologie) and birthday earrings from mom (stella&dot))

 I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!
Mom, Emma, Laura, Katharine, me and Claire
I wore a dress with purple elephants... thought it was appropriate for a baby shower!

Hostess Pic - Me, Erin, Laura and KK

Emma and Claire were "good" helpers :)

My Mom had a friend crochet a Dallas Cowboys helmet for CJ - totally took the prize for best gift!

Yeny, Jeremy and the rev.

Hot date.

Griff, Brian, Darrin and Daniel holding Jeremy... friends since junior high!

Top Golf

Christmas in Dallas

We made our way up to Dallas this week and had such a great time seeing everyone. Here are the pics from our trip - sorry, half are taken from my iPhone which obviously isn't the best quality!

Aunt KK bought these shirts for the girls, love them!

Aunt Lala and Emma opening gifts

one of my favorite gifts (from Laura and Colby)

Erin, Cade and the girls opening more gifts

E&C teaching Cade how to use a puzzle

Cousins!

So sweet! Emma giving Cade kisses!

Special ice cream treat with Papa and BonBon

The girls eating their first order of Snuffer's Cheese Fries... YUM!

Having fun with the Fantls

Katharine and Daniel at Primos... favorite Mexican food. Ever.

Sisters

Back at our old stompin' grounds... nothing like SMU at Christmastime!

We always shop at Uptown Country when we are in town - we LOVE our cousin, Jenny!
This is the cutest pic, by the way!