33 years & ranch fun!

On Friday afternoon Bryan and I loaded up the girls and the pup and headed to the ranch. We were (naturally) running a smidgen later than we intended because the oil change Bryan needed ran late, but we still made it in time to drop Maverick off at the ranch, play for a little while, and head to town with Lulu and Papa for their special anniversary dinner!

When we first arrived Lulu and Papa had been riding around. Clara thought they were playing a game of hide and seek. Emma just heard us say "Lulu and Papa" and wanted them RIGHT. NOW. (She's a little obsessed with her grandparents). They pulled up just in the nick of time to save us from a toddler tantrum! perfect! AND we were able to hitch a ride to go see some cows, hooray!

Run, cow, run!

 Wide open spaces, animals he shouldn't chase, and ponds = canine heaven 

swimming

 Clara thought Papa was going to drive right into the lake, which wouldn't be a problem if she was wearing her "baby suit", but because she was in a pretty Aggie dress it was not ok! And much to Papa's dismay Clara brought it up all weekend long. Sheesh. Guilt trip professional!

She did think it was funny the last time we visited!

Let me just take a moment to point out that this is THE perfect outfit for Emmy. The shirt says "oh hi!" and then those darling little baby capris. It's got Emma written all over it and it's going to be a regular in the rotation now. Who knew Old Navy had such cute kid clothes!?

Little baby in a big barn

Then it was time for Bryan to shower and the rest of us to get changed to go to Cuero's new fancy restaurant! (It's called the Eagle maybe? or something similar).

changed and ready to go!

 I was a little nervous about taking my girls to a fancy restaurant after a day of travel and wacky naps, but my parents thought it would be okay so we gave it a go!

The ladies

And the gents + Emma Lou

 I was really starting to quake inside when there were not a children's menu and they handed us water goblets! Thank goodness they had some styrofoam cups with lids full of lemonade for the girls (phew!)

Since it's a nice restaurant and a leisurely dining experience is expected it took a long while to get out food, especially since salads and such came first. The girls got really squirrely so we checked out the cool eagle chairs and waterfall in the entry, and went outside for a while little while.

  

Admiring their reflections (which I'm sure looked funny to the people inside :)

super excited about touching the wet wall! bubbles!

 Dinner was DELICIOUS!! Mmmmm. And we were so pleased to be able to be there to celebrate with Mom and Dad and see Meemaw and Papaw! Happy 33 years together Mom & Dad! You truly are example of a happily ever after.

Some of my favorite moments from dinner were:
After we got back from outside Clara told everyone about the big lizard we saw. Papaw asked what color it was and she told him green. He then proceeded to try to convince her it was probably purple and named Pluto. He didn't manage to convince her at dinner, but the next morning when I asked Clara what color lizards were she told me purple, hahah!

Papa asked Clara if she would help him name some of the baby cows, and she agreed. He asked her what she would name one. Her answer? "Food."
I'm pretty sure she was just hungry, but that didn't make it any less hilarious!

Clara thought Meemaw's walker was pretty cool :)

Meemaw, I'm so impressed with how well you're getting along after your surgery!! 

4 beautiful people, inside and out

Add the kids!

Everybody together! :)

 When we got home Emma, Bryan and Papa went for a ride to go look for "reindeers" :) Clara was going to go but then she was too tired and cranky and worried about riding into the pond (3 year olds, man).

Bryan took this video while they were riding around:

When they returned Emma treated us to a pretty awesome look at her wind blown 'do!

Styling!! 

 

Meanwhile Lulu, Clara and I had been coloring. Then it was time for pajamas.

And lots of hugs and kisses and cuddles! Night night! 

Short & Snappy

I realized as I was pulling up my computer to do a few blog posts that I have a shockingly small number of photos (for me, anyway) from Friday/Saturday.

From Friday...

Emma at the splash pad

Casual reading

Academic bathtime

 On Saturday Clara woke up from her nap super early and ended up coming downstairs and falling back asleep on the ottoman part of the recliner while I worked on school stuff.

That's Clara under the blanket

Ready for me to find a laminator!

 And then on Saturday night Lulu & Papa came over to babysit the girls so Bryan and I could have a much needed night out.

bedtime stories with Papa

 First Bryan and I had a delicious dinner at BJs Brewery and then we went with Michelle & Logan (who also had a date night) to Main Event. We played games in the arcade, laser tag, Liar's Dice, and bowling. It was seriously soooo much fun. 

handsome date

Ski ball competition

with the power of our passes combined our team will win at laser tag!

Team Green won!!

and bowling

It was so lovely to spend some time at first with each other and then with friends without children. Our conversation included things WE wanted to talk about which was huge - and I ate my dinner slowly and with two hands (ahhhh).

Anadarko Christmas Party 2015

This past weekend was the annual Anadarko Christmas Party! We hired one of my 11th graders to babysit the girls, waited until they were asleep and then out we went!!

They are so stinking cute

And stylish ;)

 Unfortunately we had a blow out right before pulling into the parking garage. By the time we changed the tire the parking garage was full. We drove the very short distance to the other parking garage (in horrible traffic so it took forever) and by the time we got there it had just filled up too! (Ah!) So we ended up parking at the mall and walking. 

Once we got there we made our masques and visited with co-workers and friends. I'm always surprised by the number of people I run into! And Bryan's coworkers are so much fun. This is probably my favorite part about the party - it's a date for us but involves dinner and music and friends as well.

Not gonna lie Bryan, you look a little creepy with the mask on!

We had dinner (kind of) and a few drinks (I'm not pregnant this year, so I didn't have to stick to Shirley Temples, hooray!)

And then it was time for Maroon 5! There was a legit crazy crowd around the stage.

They put on an excellent concert! I like them even more live.

Short video for a coworker of mine:

a blue-ish Adam in the background

 We took the usual staged picture as well:

So much fun! We look forward to it every year!! Thanks Anadarko :)

US on our 5th Anniversary

After my last post I realized we didn't have a single picture taken together today so now we do!

5th anniversary! (in the style of parents of young children)

Well, the first part of the day was Houston flooding and me "teaching" (school was cancelled after I got there because several roads in our area were closed or impassable). And then it was taking care of our two rugrats and an insurance debacle. And then it was a pizza playdate with friends.

Sounds romantic, right?

Okay, no.

BUT it is real life and I honestly wouldn't change it. Why not celebrate our anniversary with two of the people who have impacted our marriage the most?

Because I'm feeling nostalgic though, here are a few of my favorite photos from our wedding day 5 years ago!

And then fast-forward until you get to today!
We met for lunch at BJ's Brewery (one of my favorite restaurants) and took turns bouncing Emma and feeding her some apples.

Then I needed a safe place to stash her while I did a few quick chores around the house.
Here she is in a baby crib/baby flower tub combo. Why not? Houston was flooding anyway, haha.

And she really liked it!

Kicked back and enjoying the soft fabric

:)

 Then we collected Clara and drove over to the Bunnis household.
The kids got to play:

and get some energy out. And we enjoyed pizza.

And, in typical Kate-fashion, I did something stupid. In this particular case I somehow managed to swallow a coke can tab (how!?) I'm waiting to figure out what I should do about that ...

Anyway, happy anniversary to the coolest dude in town.
Love you mister. All the time. Forever and ever. Really, really.