School Picture Time!

I'm not sure they could have taken pictures that better depicted these two girls at this particular stage. It's incredible really.

Enjoy them!

(I sure did :)

Home Depot Helpers

It's a hat!

Today there were several hats involved. The girls tried on the Halloween costume hats... Annnnd Miss Emmy stole a bra pad from the washing machine and wore it as a hat most of the afternoon. 

Goodness I love these two!

Dizzy Flamingos

Here are a couple of videos of the girls singing and spinning and just being super duper silly:

 

It's normal around here! ha

"Month of Doom" Complete

You may remember me discussing about a month ago that Bryan and I were going to be completing a yeast cleanse. 

We. Did. It.

And though we had painful moments (man did I just want some cheese and BBQ sauce - but not together, though), we honestly did a pretty fabulous job, if I do say so myself. 

I've lost 10lbs, and Bryan has lost 9lbs, which we are also pretty stoked about, especially since 80% of this diet is something we can reasonably continue doing.

Highlights:

- Neither of us crave breads or carbs anymore (though we both missed potatoes a little bit)

- We've gotten used to minimal amounts of sweetness, so things that are sweetened "regularly" seem excessive, and quite frankly, gross (ex: regular ketchup)

- Bryan has mastered his addiction to diet coke

- Now 10-20 of dark chocolate chips satisfies any sweets craving I have

- We are both sleeping better and have more energy

- We've learned new ways of making dishes and are willing to experiment more in the kitchen

Bummers:

- My joints still ache, although the really bad flare ups are happening less often

- I still crave dairy. I'm allergic to it, and I haven't had it in a month, and yet it's still just as appealing as ever (dang it)

- Bryan still is having some anxiety/stress issues

We haven't resolved everything, but we've taken a major step forward to reclaiming health and wellness. I'm proud of the way we've learned to cook better, and using substitutes we wouldn't have used previously. 

I love that our girls now think almond/coconut milk is normal. 

I love that they've only had goldfish 3 times in a month and a half. 

I love that we sleep soundly (when no one wakes up unhappy *ahem, Emma*).

I love that we completed the cleanse, and know that we are capable of continuing to take control of what we consume. 

Girl's Weekend Part 4

On Sunday we woke up feeling a little more rested, which was nice.

And no trip with these 4 girls would be complete without a little reading! So while Lulu and I were getting ready and packing, Auntie M read to the girls.

The girls were ready to go before we were finished packing, and made their intentions to leave quite clear :)

Clara attempting to put Emma's show back on

 We stopped at a Whataburger to get some breakfast.

Thank goodness Lulu has 2 arms!

Clara: I cheese too!

Emma needed a private moment to make a phone call

The chaos of 4 kids

Once we were full of eggs, bacon and pancakes we took the girls to the Kiddie Park (an old fashioned carousel/fair grounds type place meant specifically for small children). We needed to kill an hour or two before Papa could drop off Uncle G and this looked like a good spot for it.

Clara loves Baby Jessie

So sweet!

Buddies

Excited to go on some rides!

 The first ride all 3 girls wanted to get on!

They were all excited to drive

.... and then Emma realized this was the worst decision ever

Poor thing! I finally asked them to stop the ride a little early when she came by to rescue her.

Clara and Molly enjoyed the ride though!

 When I rescued Emma I took her over to some stationary helicopers and cars for her to calm down on. It helped.

Then Lulu and Marissa took Jessie, Emma and Molly on the carousel while I took Clara on a pony ride!

Clara riding Mr. Snuggles

Super happy about it too!

 Then Clara really wanted to ride some airplanes, so we headed over to that ride. 

Sweet JJ just hanging out

Clara loved the airplane

Molly loved the first 2/3 of the airplane ride

 Emma wanted no part of the rides anymore, so she found a bench that was just her size and munched on some goldfish.

Once the ride was over Molly and Clara joined her:

Clara asked to ride another one, while Molly and Emma decided to watch:

Then all 3 girls rode the School Bus. Clara thought it was a blast, Emma just lounged the entire time, and Molly thought it was terrible.

By the time the school bus ride was over, Uncle G was there to take Auntie M and Molly and Jessie home. It was a sad moment for us because we'll miss them, but it was time for them to start their drive home. 

We had one last ticket, so Clara rode on the Ferris Wheel (aka "house ride") to finish the morning off:

We all went potty, loaded up and started our drive back home,

Emma slept the first 45 minutes or so, and then we stopped to get the girls some lunch and have a potty break.

I took this picture to show Clara's excited pony tail fashion :)

Emma desperately wanted to see what Clara was doing in there - ewwww

And about 45 minutes before we were home, Clara fell asleep and took a little nap herself.

She only woke up because Emma started shouting "C'ARA! RIBBIT! RIBBIT!" from her book. Oh Emmy.

We were all very thankful to be home and out of the car! Thank you for driving Lulu!

And thank you for a wonderful weekend!!!!

If you'd like to start at the beginning, you can read part 1 of our trip here.

Girl's Weekend Part 3

The girls had a blast at the DoSeum as you saw, but they were hungry and tired and cranky so it was time for a change. We found a local Chicfila, fed the girls, and then headed back to the hotel. Molly and Clara took little naps in the car, but unfortunately the very small 15 minute nap Emma took on the way to Chicfila seemed to the be the grand total she was willing to take that day (yikes), and Jessie didn't sleep either. So once we got back to the hotel Marissa stayed with Jessie so she could nap, and Lulu and I took the 3 older girls to go play.

At first we started in the lazy river, but about halfway around lap one we found a little beach! 

I think it's safe to say Molly would have stayed right here for the next several hours - or at least until her tummy got the best of her. She loved it!

I don't think Clara *loved* it the way that Molly did, but she sure did enjoy filling up her bucket and turning it over to make towers. 

Emma just wanted to keep playing in the water, so Lulu and I divided up our supervision skills so all of the girls would be happy. 

There's just something about chubby fingers clutching sand that's so precious

 Emma decided to take a break from the water because she wanted Mommy

Unfortunately she discovered getting to Mommy involved walking on SAND! 

Noooooo!!

:(

 It's okay. Lulu rescued her and put her back in the water to wash off all of the sand. 

Aunt Katy, help me build more towers!

 Pretty soon we were working together to make 3 towers at one time. 

But the best part was smashing them flat as soon as they were built. It took me 3 tries to get a picture with both girls and 3 towers standing, haha

Teamwork

Molly did not want to leave the sand at all, nor did she care for the lazy river. In fact there were several tears shed, BUT once I held her hand she was ok, and we were able to float back to our chairs. 

sweet girl

Buddy system

 Clara insisted upon floating under the tube the entire time. 

Lulu and the girlies

Snack break - these girls love each other so much

 There was an incident around this time which I have mentally dubbed The Great Poop Debacle, but I'll spare you the details. Poor Molly had a terrible tummy ache. While I took care of Molly, Lulu hung out with Clara and Emma at the little kid pool so they could get some more splashes in.

Then it was time to head back up to the rooms to get dried off.

Looking a little worn out, aren't they? :)

Molly already had a bath and was dressed again, and Jessie was awake and being fed, so that just left Clara and Emma to get ready.

Daniel Tiger provides the perfect distraction when mommies need a few moments. Thanks for bringing the iPad, Marissa!

Then it was time to play for a little while before dinner!

Where's your belly button, Emma!?

She loves her Auntie M

 We took a few minutes to admire the fish:

And color pretty pictures

JJ saw the fishies too

Side note: we had several people ask us about the 4 little girls all dressed alike. Were there two sets of twins?! Were they all one mommy's?! Nope. Just close cousins!

We stopped at the playground for a little while to explore:

Clara checked out the hammock

and the swing

 And Molly and Emma liked the slide:

Then the restaurant was finally open (phew!) 

While we waited for them to get us a table, Clara had so much fun trying to get Jessie to laugh:

So so so sweet!!!! Gosh I love baby laughs.

Chowing down on on some fish sticks and pudding, yum

 For some reason Emma was rather food-averse the entire weekend. She just didn't want to eat anything, even things she normally likes. She was being quite the tired toot at dinner so I left with her a little bit early and we went back to the room to get pajamas on and turn on the Aggie game.

The hotel life agrees with her ;)

A little evening reading after pajamas:

Lulu and I turned the Aggie game on in our little room too, just very quietly, and it worked well as white noise because the girls fell asleep and we got to finish the game. The Aggies won against Arizona State! Whoop!

Thank goodness we all slept much better Saturday night, with Jessie and Emma waking up a couple of times, but going back to sleep relatively quickly. Phew!

And good thing too, because we had one more fun day ahead of us.

Read Part 4 here.