Girls' Weekend

Last weekend, I joined six of my favorite gals in Hot Springs for a weekend full of fun, fun, fun and tons of laughing!! While there we celebrated Laura and Lauren's birthdays, made a trip to a spa (which was another funny story in and of itself), ate lots of yummy food, drank lots of yummy wine, and just enjoyed each other's company to the fullest.

I sure did miss Brad and Kate, but didn't quite realize just how good being away with friends and being irresponsible (the good kind...like eating too much good food and drinking too much good wine) would be for the soul. I feel like a new woman coming out of that one....I still break out in fits of laughter just thinking about the weekend. I could never have imagined a better time and I hope it was the beginning of an annual gathering.

Friday evening.

Then we put on our comfies and chatted and played Apples to Apples until the wee hours...

We headed out for dinner on Saturday night. If you like a VIP Menu, a Black Tie Menu, a Specials Menu, and a regular menu with 482 Italian dishes to choose from then Belle Arti is the place for you!! Why in the world do they have so many choices?!? I'm pretty sure I ended up ordering what my finger landed on when I closed my eyes.

Then, we headed next door to a quiet little paino bar which we made a little louder and then decided to leave for somewhere a little more lively. Has anyone ever been to Lucky's in Hot Springs?? Well, I have and my ipod playlist is a little more interesting because of it (and because of Melissa, too...she introduced me to some fun tunes that I love listening while cooking dinner and cleaning). Brad has also been to Lucky's and he said, "YOU girls went to Lucky's?!?" Ha...it was quite the place.

The next picture was taken around 2am. Surprisingly, we don't look too awful, even though I haven't seen post-2am since Kate was a newborn and believe you me that was not by choice and I can assure you I DID look awful! I just looked at this picture again and realized that this is the group (minus Mary who just gave birth to sweet little Eli on Jan. 20th...we missed ya Mar!) that I spent almost 7 weeks backpacking Europe with 9 years ago. I can't believe how young we were and how long ago that has been. I think that we should ALL go back...plus Melissa and Megan (not in picture) of course...I'll have to start saving for that one for sure!!

What a weekend...I had an amazing time and can't wait to do it again!!! Thanks girls!!

Videos

Drawing circles....

She got a zhu zhu pet (I think that's how you spell it) for Christmas. In this video, she is chasing the "mouse" around...so funny!!

Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season like we did. We look forward to Christmas time all year because we get to see our families and friends and it just does a soul good to be surrounded by those you love. This was Kate's second Christmas and she had so much fun opening gifts and watching everyone else open gifts. She continues (of course) to be the biggest joy in our lives...we feel so lucky to be her parents!!!

I'm not really sure what happened to my ability to move pictures around on Blogger, but I seem to be having trouble. Therefore, the pictures are in random order....oh well!!

Meet Lego Sam....he loves everything Lego!! I think he got about 25 different Lego sets for Christmas and was just as excited to open the 25th as he was to open the first. He kept saying, "Oh wow!!! This is what I've always wanted!!" Such a sweet little boy!
And here are our little rockers! Vivi and Kate had a blast playing Sam's new drum set!!! Vivi also showed Kate how to ride her new bike from Santa....thank you, Vivi!!! Vivi is going to be a big sister any day now, we're very excited to meet the new baby girl!!

Christmas Day at Alma and Dick's. I didn't get any pictures of Kate playing with her second cousins, Emily and Stephanie but they had a lot of fun....as long as Kate was the one riding the rocking horse...ha! We need to work on the whole "sharing" concept.

Christmas Day with Papa and Sissy....

Christmas Eve Mass....Emma was the Angel Gabriel. Abby and I were also Angel Gabriel in the Christmas Pageant when we were students at CTK....ahhh the memories!!

Opening gifts Christmas Eve.

Grandpa and Kate watching the story of Jesus' birth.

Christmas Eve....DeDe with Emma and Kate. I think Kate was eating one of those delicious little cupcakes that we all had trouble keeping our hands off of!!

A white Christmas.....DeDe and Kate watching the "soooo" (snow).

Me, DeDe, Kate and Kayde at Bowling World.

I can already hear Emma telling Kate to leave her alone in about 5 years...ha!! Kate loves all of her cousins and looks up to them...especially Emma. She really enjoyed watching Emma play her Nintendo thing.

Santa came, Santa came!!! Kate's favorite gift from Santa was a Thomas the Train book that makes sounds.

Why I love my life....

Auntie Em, Kate and Me on Christmas Day.

Kate's first time bowling...she loved it!!
Bowling World with Grandpa....

After an hour and a half of playing in the snow. Kate absolutely loved running and playing in the snow and cried and cried when I made her come inside. She loves to do anything outside. Look at those rosey cheeks!!!

My parents spent the week after Christmas with us. It was a great week...we miss them so much and can't wait for them to move back to our part of the country! I think we were all snacking on cheese and crackers while Brad made homemade spaghetti and meatballs...yummmm!!

The Sever crew joined us for dinner one night after Christmas and here are all the kiddos together! Is this not a precious picture!!! They all play so nicely together and are all such sweet kids....we love our visits with them.

Here is Kate trying on DeDe's new nightgown....she was ooohing and ahhing over the soft fabric of it and wanted to wear it. What a funny little girl~!!!

Kate and Elmo Live!

Kate has become such a little helper. She helps me with dinner just about every night. Here she is chopping up some mushrooms with her little Gerber knife.

Wearing Mommy's shoes....

Feeding her baby....usually the baby gets a drink and then Kate gets a drink....ha!! It's empty though so that's a little disappointing to her.

Where did our little bitty tiny baby girl go?!?!? Well, she wasn't ever REALLY little bitty or tiny but she's losing that baby look and I'm not sure what to think about that.

Brad making the said meatballs.

Hee hee....Kate was helping me go through some baby stuff to store the other day and found her old binki. She cried when I made her give it back but we're not starting that at this point in the game!!

Kissing her new dolly that Laurie made her....isn't it precious!!

Brock and Kate playing hard in Brock's backyard.

Opening presents at Papa and Sissy's after a nice bath. Aren't her "Perfect Little Present" pj's so sweet?!? We agree...she's definitely the best present we've ever gotten!