Henry and Parker's First Birthday!

Back in October {you know, over four months ago}, Henry and Parker turned one!  I never blogged about their birthday, but I have a great reason to hop in my time machine and share it today.  One of my favorite blogs, Twin Talk, is turning ONE today {yay!} and they are hosting a link up for twin's first birthday posts.  Plus, I am on Spring Break this week so I have a little bit of time to dust off the ol' blog and join the link up.  So welcome to Henry and Parker's First Birthday!

October 29, 2014

Silly birthday poses

We did not really plan a big birthday party for the boys. We wanted to just celebrate with family, which is exactly what we did.  I was thrilled however, when my sister and brother-in-law from Oklahoma City and my brother and sister-in-law from Austin both emailed me and said they wanted to come to Dallas for the occasion. Add in grandparents and local family and our little shindig turned into a pretty big deal!  The morning of the party Henry was grumpy and acting so out of character.  We ended up taking him to the doctor and discovering he had a small ear infection (our first one ever, on his birthday!) so we were a little behind schedule getting things ready.  But everything came together eventually and hey, a great thing about having family only for the party is that they don't care if they show up and nothing is ready!  They will gladly help blow up some balloons, throw together the food and decorate for the party, so Mom can go take a shower :)

I hung up pictures of the boys on the mantle and my sister made adorable first birthday prints to display.  This was a super last minute thought that she put together for me in about two days, which was awesome!  We got cupcakes from Central Market, which were yummy and super affordable. 

Guests

If you thought a small birthday party means not very many presents, you would be wrong.

Parker

Henry and Grandpa

 Neither of the boys were that impressed with the cake, but Parker gave it more of a taste than Henry, who pretty much just threw it on the floor!

We have this large, grown-up-sized tricycle that we pulled out during the party.  It was a hit with everyone!

The picture above with the boys laying in the birthday party aftermath makes me laugh.  It was a great day and Henry and Parker had so much fun, despite spending the morning at the pediatrician and barely getting a nap that afternoon.  The best part was that their birthday party was the day before Daylight Savings Time and they wore themselves out so much that they slept an hour later the next morning {which NEVER happens!}  They set themselves to the new time without even knowing it!  

Happy Birthday, sweet boys!

Baptizing Our Boys

Last month, Henry and Parker were baptized at our church and we celebrated with both my family and Mark’s family.  Everyone came over to our house for lunch, and then we began the process of getting the boys dressed in their little white outfits.  The true miracle of the day was that we got out everyone dressed up (myself included) and out the door on time!

Our wedding chalkboard continues to live on. 

A HUGE thank you to my mom for all the cute decorations, and to Mark’s mom, for so much yummy food and snacks.

Mark’s brother Mike had just gotten back from a trip to Australia, and the boys scored the little critters in this picture.

A delicious cake that we ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the days following the baptism.

Henry, packed and ready to go!  Both boys had these cute personalized shoes, which were a baby gift when they were born.  Adorbs.

Baptized!  

Here’s the funny story of the day. We got to the church and settled into some pews with all our family, with plenty of time to spare before the ceremony began.  Just as they were starting to call up babies (there were 16 getting baptized that day!!), we noticed a certain…. smell.  Parker needed to be changed.  My mom and I rushed him to the bathroom and discovered he had made a little mess in his WHITE outfit.  Of course.  To this day, this is still the only time we have been away from the house and needed a full-on clothing change for either boy.  But he couldn’t change out of his clothes because he couldn’t exactly get baptized in the orange fox pajamas I had packed in his bag for an emergency such as this!  So… thank goodness Grandma Neuschafer made them some white blankets, which I strategically used to cover the offending spot on his pants for his big moment.  Mom and I did some quick damage control and then returned back to the church for his time to shine.

Oh yeah, and Parker pretty much slept through everything.  Henry was awake and did really well in his first official mass since Christmas (which HE slept all the way through.)

A day for their history books, for sure.

40 Weeks

Today, December 1, is my due date.  Whhhaaatt??  You mean I could still be pregnant right now?  Shoot me now.  That would be miserable.  Miserable.  MISERABLE!

Instead, these two little bears have been on the outside for almost five weeks now.

Henry

Parker

We celebrated Thanksgiving with an overnight road trip to Mark’s parents’ house in Prosper.  They are only about 45 minutes away, so it was a nice trial run at leaving town with the boys.  Our car was packed to the brim with them, their gear, our two dogs, and the dog gear.  We had a great time and having so many extra hands around to hold, feed and change the babies meant that Mom and Dad got to take some naps!  

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  We are gearing up for Christmas now.  And in case you were wondering, nope… neither of the boys’ stockings are finished yet.  Oh well.  Maybe by 2016?

SURPRISE!!

Friends!  I have not abandoned you!  Even though it has been a week since I've last posted, it has been one of the craziest, BEST weeks of my life.  I have so much to update everyone on, which I will work on doing in a few posts.

Let's start with the best news... the babies are here!!!!  And.. we have one sneaky little trickster on our hands, because Baby Girl was actually a Baby BOY!  Yes.  That was a shock to say the least.  So our little girl name, Annabelle Grace, was not going to work.  So poor little guy was just "Baby B" for the first day of his life while we pondered his new name.  Mark and I knew right away though, but just wanted to sleep on it to make sure.

Introducing....

Henry Alan and Parker Alan

Born October 29, 2013

4:21 and 4:23 p.m.

Henry came in at 5 pounds, 9 ounces (it's his big head), Parker at 5 pounds, 3 ounces

It's been a whirlwind of a week.  I am home now, but both boys are still in the NICU at the hospital.  I have so much to share, so I'll start updating more on the blog today.  But in the meantime, they are doing great, we are in love, and I'm trying to catch up on all that nesting I missed while I was on bed rest and before they come home... hopefully soon!

Thank you to everyone for the prayers, good thoughts, gifts, calls and visits while I was waiting out these little guys' arrival.  I can't believe I missed the entire month of October inside those hospital walls. But it was 100% worth it!

Merry, Merry! Part One.

You guys, our Christmas was out of control.  Here's how it went down.

On December 14, my little sister graduated college and our Christmas-ing officially began.  We left work and went straight to Muenster for the graduation and party.

The next day, Christmas with my family began.  Since my brother and his wife and sister and her husband were also all coming in for the graduation, we decided to have Christmas that week too, since it would be hard for us all to get back to my parents' place again in the next two weeks.  To kick off the holiday, we all went to see the Ice Exhibit at the Gaylord Hotel.  This was fun, although definitely geared more towards kids, and also VERY COLD!  It is NINE DEGREES in the exhibit, so it was also a race to see it all and GET OUT OF THE COLD!

While we warmed our toes, we took some photos around the hotel.  Please excuse the dark, grainy cell phone pics...

We got back to my parent's house late that night and had Christmas and presents, during which I took no pictures.  With one Christmas under our belts, we headed back home at the end of the weekend.

** good news **

Hi Friends!  Whew. Time is flying.  Like whoa.  So much for that little blip of unemployment.  That came and went.  I am now back to work at my school, only as an associate teacher.  It’s a new position at my school this year, and there are two other girls besides me working in this role.  We are each teaching in one of the three first grade classrooms, as a second teacher.  We are kind of like student teachers/interns/fellows... depending on what program you are used to seeing.  We are also all guinea pigs to this program at my school, so it’s definitely a learn as you go process!

So far, just one week into my new role, I L-O-V-E it. Obsessed. Thrilled. Uber excited. When I [finally] decided to chase my dream of being a teacher last Spring, I could have not have planned out a more perfect transition into my new career.  I am getting to learn from an awesome experienced teacher, be in the classroom full-time (and get paid), and be involved in all parts of the preparing, planning, teaching and assessing throughout the year.  And first grade is way fun. I thought I wanted a more “older young grade,” like 3rd of 4th grade, but this is so incredibly fun.  Everything in first grade is cute.  My lead teacher is basically my kindred spirit, because she gets a lot of her ideas from teaching blogs and Pinterest, she loves cute fonts and fun colors, and she is super organized.  And she trusts me and encourages me to offer my ideas, change the way she does things and run with new ideas and lessons.  Oh and, my official mentor at school this year is our new interim Lower School Head (who my friend Sara knows in real life too) and she is AWESOME.  Like probably my new most favorite person, ever.  It is a complete 180 degree change from my work life in the past year.  I feel super blessed and incredibly lucky to have this opportunity to learn and prepare for my life as a TEACHER.  I love it.

And on the subject of good news and life totally ROCKING, I also finished the last of my prerequisite classes in grad school this summer, so I only have nine (!! time is flying !!) more hours of content coursework left for my degree.  AND, I took one of my two state certification tests last weekend (the tougher of the two) and PASSED.  WOOO!  That was such a huge relief off my shoulders.  I start the fall semester in a couple weeks and the kids in my class will show up on Tuesday for Meet the Teacher!  Whoa.  It’s happening, like, for real.

2 years + 1 day

Yesterday was our anniversary.

We went out to eat at [our standard] On The Border. Not that exciting, but we love it and I had a gift card from work so it basically only cost us the $7 tip we left on the table.  Not too shabby.

For year number 2, Hubs surprised me with this chair from Target.  I have [not subtly at all] been hinting for awhile that I wanted it.  As in, every time we go to Target I point it out and sit in it and say 'Gee I wish I had this chair.'

Then when I got up yesterday morning, there it was in my kitchen.  Mark leaves for work before I even get up so, as he confessed at dinner, he woke up at 4 a.m. and got it out of the car trunk and built it.  Straight up Santa Claus style.

I'll have to post later with my gift to Mark.  It's something for the yard/outside of the house.  So once we get it set up, I'll post pictures.

After dinner and a nice rainstorm, we came home and watched New Year's Eve [aka Valentine's Day, the Sequel Remake].  I liked it all right.

Two years down.  Much more to come.

Is today Saturday?

This week has been a whirlwind of days, mostly meaning that I can never remember what day of the week it actually is at any given time.  I only worked Monday and Tuesday, so the string of holidays and days off is really confusing me and my calendar.  For example, my cat's birthday is today, July 7, but all day yesterday I thought it was the seventh, so I texted/called/Instagramed all day that it was his birthday yesterday.  But now it's today.  So he's been celebrating/being confused for two days straight.  And let's not even acknowledge that it's a little bit strange that I even know when my cat's birthday is, much less that I tell my entire extended family about the occasion.  In case you were wondering, he turned five :)

Now let's just move past all the cat birthday shenanigans and look at some Vegas pics, shall we?

Here are two of my friends, who I have known since elementary school, Stephanie and Mary Beth.

Here's the Hubs and I, in the Balligio.  The cool part about Vegas is that you can carry your drinks with you everywhere, from casino to casino, in the cabs, on the streets, etc.  You can even lay your glass down anywhere you want!  It's a magical place.

Some of the girls, conveniently arranged in a height line.

When you're Catholic and you see nuns in a Vegas casino, you have to stop and take some photos.

A nice shot of my new Vegas dress, with a bit of our view in the background.

MB and Steph again.

And, Mary Beth and her boy du jour, Norman.