playing catch up

My blog is reaching new depths on my list of priorities, but that's ok. I have gotten lots of good things done in the last few months. This is mostly a photo dump, because we've had some big things happen I want to document and for family to be able to see.

The girls had their birthdays!! Yeah...a few months ago. :) My camera's battery was dead and I could NOT find the charger anywhere. So, thank you to those of you who sent me pictures. As always, I barely saw Sophia during her party. That girl runs a hundred miles an hour all. the. time. And Penny Mae, oh Penny Mae, loved her birthday cake. She jumped in head first...literally. 

Andy and I got to take a trip to NYC to visit my brother, who moved there in July. It was my first trip away from the kids since I was pregnant with Penny Mae, and neither Andy or I had ever been before. We had so much fun and the food was fabulous! It was great to get to spend some time with my brother. Biking through Central Park was the favorite activity for all of us!

The Met

Top of the Rock

Central Park bike ride

Real life in NYC: pub food & dog parks

Double decker bus tour

Washington Square Park

The closest we got to Lady Liberty

sort of... :)

I was surprised by how much green there was in the City, outside of Central Park. Most of the streets were like this- lined with trees. It was beautiful!

My dad and my Aunt Angie were able to stop by on their way down to Austin from Iowa, so the girls enjoyed a surprise visit from their Papa Mac!

Then came Halloween! Meet Cinderella and the cutest darn elephant on the planet. 

Superman (a.k.a. James) is a favorite with both these girls:

Andy didn't take any days off at Thanksgiving, so we have a few vacation days scattered throughout November and December. For our first one, we finally visited the Dallas Arboretum. It was wonderful! Sophie and Penny Mae both loved the Kid's play area, and because there were so many water activities, we will be back in the spring! We also really enjoyed Pumpkin Village, with Sophia's favorite part being the Cinderella chariot. We pretended we were off to the ball! It was a blast!

And now we are soaking up Advent. I finally got it together in time this year. Can't wait to share some of the fun and special things we're doing! Maybe by March, huh? :)