Elizabeth is TWO!!!

Elizabeth Grace is TWO!!!!! Crazy, I know. She is getting so big and is even learning to help mommy do some things. A couple mornings ago after I had gotten the girls dressed Elizabeth, without help, put Katherine's cereal bowl in the sink, put the diapers in the trash, and put the dirty laundry in the clothes hamper. I was so excited as I began to catch a glimmer of hope...I am going to make it! :) Actually, although being a full time Mom is a very hard job I do enjoy it and it isn't all that bad. It is fun to do mommy things and make lots of memories. I enjoy doing things like the girls birthday parties! The day before Elizabeth's birthday we had a small birthday party for her at our house. It was fun.
Here are a few shots I took of Elizabeth at the Myriad Gardens downtown.

Elizabeth is getting so big! Here are some of her favorite things to do as well as some of the milestones we have crossed:
1. Read - although she can't actually read she has many book nearly memorized and loves for mommy to read to her.
2. Sing - we sing all the time. She knows LOTS of songs. Some of the greatest are ones we make up.
3. Liz is potty trained! She did a great job. She does still wear a diaper at night and nap time.
4. She is super close to being able to spell her name. The last three letters sometimes stump her. (A song we sing taught her this.)
5. Knows her colors
6. She really likes watching cartoons. This is something her and daddy like to do together. :)
Elizabeth is a very active little girl and just seems to love life. No worries, no stress, little responsibility....it really effects your attitude and how cute you are. :)



Thank you to everyone who got Elizabeth a gift. They were all wonderful. She got some great new clothes, book, craft things, and other toys.

I made Elizabeth a moon and stars Birthday cake because she LOVES the moon!


One of her favorite gifts was the tea set she got from Nanny and Papa. She plays with it almost every day! The weather was beautiful the day of the party so Papa took the tea stuff outside and had a small water cooler filled with water so they could fill the cups. Elizabeth and Jasmine LOVED this!!! I greatly enjoy them playing pretend. It is so cute! I am amazed at how much they already are so girly.

NYC Trip

Awww, vacation! It was so wonderful to get away for awhile with my hubby! Although I must admit once you are a parent and your kids aren’t with you part of your heart and mind remains where they are. I was ready to kiss on my babies but I survived just fine without them and I did enjoy the break.
Brandon and I flew out Wednesday morning. All flights went well and we even arrived about 30mins early to Philadelphia, which was a really good thing because it was an hour and a half train ride from Philly to Atlantic City. I found it so much fun to figure out how all the transportation worked there. All of the trains, subways, buses and taxies are taboo to me but for many of them it is just a daily thing. It was neat getting a feel for “their culture”. Strange isn’t it, how we all live in the same country and yet many times I felt as if I were in a different country- different pace, different method of transportation, different housing situations, and many times even many different languages. I wonder if it would feel that way if you actually did live there. Or could you "be in the city but not of it." hehe. But seriously, certainly it doesn't seem so crazy if you live there.
We were excited to be one the 30th floor of our hotel (which is about equal to the tallest “skyscraper” in OKC). Our room was nice and upon looking out our window at the beautiful city lights realized we were extra blessed to have an OCEAN view! I was so excited; I do believe I squealed with joy!
It was rainy the day after we got there but we had to go see the ocean anyway. Brandon had been to the gulf but had never seen the real ocean. At night it was neat to look out over the land. The city lights were bright and went out as far as I could see. Some places the lights weren’t as thick as others but regardless they were endless. Yet as I looked to the ocean side it was an endless darkness. The vast ocean waters quickly swallowed up the lights. Our God is SO amazing! What an amazing beautiful world He created!
We went to see Philadelphia on Friday and it was awesome! The history there is…WOW. Independence Hall was so neat to see and Christ’s Church was soooo cool. That is the church where George Washington attended along with Betsy Ross and Ben Franklin, among others. We even sat in the pew George Washington and his family sat in. I was amazed to find out that they still hold worship in that church every Sunday. The day in Philadelphia was a lot of walking but worth every step! We even got to try a Philly Cheese Steak! I would love to go back there and keep soaking in the history. It is such a neat place.

On Saturday we caught a bus to New York City! It was cloudy and raining on the way there so we couldn’t see a very good skyline but I was grateful the rain let up and the sun even peeked through the clouds by the time we got out into the city. Two out of the three days there were cloudy and misty/rainy but nothing to bad. Brandon’s iphone was amazing and helped us find our way around the city using the subway systems. It made it a piece of cake! It saved us tons of time figuring things out and walking. We saw all of the great major things to see in the city. We passed on the Broadway show though. I thought that even the discounted tickets were really expensive but now I wonder if we should have done it anyway. Oh well, maybe there will be a next time. I really enjoyed staying in the city it made our touring really leisurely.





Once we got back we just chilled out and walked the boardwalk. In Atlantic City they have every outlet store imaginable. It was fun to window shop. Tuesday was nice weather. The ocean water was freezing but Brandon splashed around in it anyway. I got my feet in it but was happy to deem myself the picture person and stay dry.



I was ready to get home to the girls and other than a rather turbulent landing in Chicago the flights were great and on time!
There’s no place like home! Now back to life and the normal schedule. The only downer to vacation is the getting back into the swing of things. With little ones it usually means at least one day of reviewing the boundaries. We had a great great time!