Caroline's Princess Party

We celebrated Caroline's 3rd birthday yesterday. She requested a Princess Party with cake, watermelon, and pizza. She also asked for a girls only party, but I invited a few cute fellows to celebrate with us! 

Spring has sprung!

It's finally springtime, which means smocked bubbles and sundresses are back in the closets. At last! Given Caroline's latest obsession with not wearing pants, the warm weather made perfect timing!

Caroline had a great time on Rodeo Day at her school. A denim dress was the closest we got to a western look. 

Thank God for iPhones!

iPhones are magical things.  They allow me to read the news, catch up on Facebook, play a quick game of NERTS, and read a chapter of Maria Murnane's latest book all before 9:00 in the morning.  They also allow my girls to Face Time with family, which has led to them thinking that placing a regular phone call means that the phone is broken. The most important thing an iPhone can do is take a picture at a second's notice.  I take so many pictures of the girls! I should probably download them to my computer soon because I'm running out of memory (on my phone and in my brain...but that's a different story). Here are a few from the past few weeks:

 

Ellie was either really mad about something or giving me a "cheese!" face. I can't remember. She likes her "car" but can only go backwards. Caroline LOVES to push her around the house going entirely too fast.

Caroline and Addison, her little buddy from down the street. I'm pretty sure these 2 will be getting into some silly trouble in their teen years, but thankfully that's still 10 years away!

Sweet girls before nap time. They both love their loveys! It's such a source of comfort for Ellie and Caroline is almost done with hers. She is down to 3! Ellie, on the other hand, has about 8. And she sleeps with all of them.

Caroline really enjoyed the face painter at Olivia's birthday party! We hired her to come to Caroline's party. It's princess themed and up until today boys were not invited. I told her she has to invite boys so that the princesses will have princes to play with. She didn't seem to thrilled with the idea. I'm hoping she'll forget about it and be excited when her boy friends come to her party in April.

She looks a lot like I do when I drive. She's probably seen this expression a few times at the 4 way stop by our house.

Daddy and his princesses! Caroline now refers to Lucas as "my prince." She's convinced they will get married one day.

Ellie is in the throws of teething. She now has a bottom middle tooth and a top incisor. I guess the middle top teeth will come in eventually? Giving her pain medicine is hard because they all contain a form of corn syrup. I usually give her a little bit of Benadryl with the Tylenol. It seems to help the allergic reaction and the teething pain.

One day her pain was so bad that she just laid around all day. It was so sad!

Sassy pants.

I finally got a smile out of Ellie after about a week of teething! Yeah!

Sweet Ellie Kate is crawling all over the place now. She tried crawling over to Lucas and Caroline but got tired on the way.

Oh man! She was a total mess this day! She tore a magazine apart and chewed on a green straw while making some pretty hilarious sounds. She was happy, so I was happy to sit back and enjoy her show.

HEB FINALLY fixed the seat belts in their large kiddie carts. While that makes them much safer, they are still impossible to drive. I always say a little prayer that the car carts are all taken when we walk in because I'd much rather push a regular cart than these...but...I guess it's fun for the girls.







 

Brrrrr...it's cold in here!

(there must be some Toros in the atmosphere! 10 points if you can name that movie!)

It's been a little cold outside, so we've been staying warm inside! This weather is very unusual for a normally mild Texas winter but I'm not complaining because I'm one of the rare few who enjoy freezing temps. It's a drastic change from our 100+ summer days that seem to stretch from May to October.

Here are a few pics from the past few chilly days!



She was contemplating who to marry. Tyler or Jackson? Such a hard choice. I was shocked that someone other than Daddy was a choice. I told her not to stress out too much about it because she didn't have to decide for another 30 years.



Ellie wanted kisses from Caroline! Caroline was sitting on my lap and Ellie scooted herself over to get in on the action. She pinned her big sister down and got some lovin'! She's not crawling yet but she's alllllmost there.



Dora was super exciting and extra captivating this morning. On a side note - fruit loops, when slightly chewed on and then spit out, will stain sheets. Kind of makes me wonder about the dyes that are used to make them? And then ingested?



Couch to 5k hasn't killed me yet! I'm on week 4. It is VERY hard to run pushing 70+ pounds of babies and stroller, 80+ if you count all of the gear they require to remain happy for 45 minutes. Needless to say, I'm totally exhausted by the time I'm done.



Caroline had a long morning of shopping with me and Ellie had a long morning of playing with Grammy. We came home and got ready for naps in our warm beds! Caroline decided she was going to read to me by retelling a Pinkalicious story. It..was..grueling...but amazing from a former teacher's point of view! Ellie had enough after a few minutes. She put her head down and waited for it all to be over.

I hope everyone has had a great week! It's almost the weekend, which means Luc and I are headed to the Wildcatter's Ball at Hilton Americas. We decided at 8:00 last night to go. Caroline and I went dress shopping this morning (I strongly dislike Deerbrook Mall) and Luc found a tux during his lunch break. I'm excited for a night out and the girls are excited for a night with Grammy and the Bock!

Lately

(Before I forget, this blog is going to become restricted in 48 hours. That just means you'll have to send me your email address if you want to continue reading about the girls. There are all kinds of international people reading it (Hey, Russia!) and that just freaks me out a little. Please leave your email in the comment section below or email me (MrsKateSmith @ gmail dot com) and I'll add you to the list. I already have the names of the people who sent me their emails previously. Don't be shy!)



I apologize for the lack of posts lately! Life with two kids is pretty hectic, especially when they take turns being high maintenance. My days flip flop between Caroline acting like a 13 year old and Ellie needing attention for her skin, or, because she's a baby and needs a lot of TLC (which I'm glad to give her!). I've heard that the Terrible Twos are a myth but that the Terrible Threes are a definite thing. We're sliding into that phase, I'm afraid, and the inner teacher in me is about to whip up some positive reinforcement charts. Or a padded room. We'll see how much time I have between now and the next tantrum. My personal favorite almost-three moment is when she responds to a parental request with "Fiiiiiiiiinnnnnnneeeeeeee," with all of the sullen attitude of a hormonal teenager.  It's fun. Really, really fun.

On that note, I'll recap the past few weeks in pictures.  I find it easier to do that because the pictures trigger my memory...which is rapidly fading these days!

 

Ellie has persistent, awful eczema. We've seen an allergist, her pediatrician, and a dermatologist. The allergist says she's allergic to milk, eggs, wheat, dogs, cats, bananas, etc. He thinks the eczema is a result of her eating those foods. Poor baby can't eat very much, let alone drink normal/regular priced formula. (I had to stop nursing her because I tried giving up those foods but could not - I love bread!) The dermatologist and the pediatrician both think that the eczema isn't caused by the foods, but the allergies aren't helping either. They both think it'll clear up by age 2 and I just have to keep her hydrated and well lotioned up in the meantime. The dermatologist also prescribed the cream pictured above. It must be made of liquid gold because it is super expensive! I must say - it has only been 24 hours and I've already noticed a huge difference in her skin. It's clearer and she's less itchy. I'm hoping it's a combination of the hypoallergenic formula and the pricey cream. Whatever it is, I hope she'll remain clear. I hate to see that sweet baby so miserable!

 

 

Ellie's wrist after a bad outbreak. It was like this for almost a month. It's much better now after a day with the magic cream.

 

 

Poor baby! Her eyes and mouth were so red and swollen. This was after she ate potatoes. POTATOES! Who is allergic to potatoes?

 

This was after 12 hours with her new miracle lotion. I can't put it on her eyes, but the rest of her face cleared up pretty well.

 

A typical day in our house. She's got about 10 princess dresses and she rotates them on a 30 minute cycle. She's getting pretty good at putting them on by herself.  So proud! (Side note, she was definitely looking in the mirror and telling herself she was gorgeous. So proud?)

 

 

 

This was after I picked her up at school one day. Her precious teachers let her take this Snow White outfit home. They are the sweetest!

 

 

This is Luc's new hobby. I don't know that his new art medium is a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, the bread is so good and delightful and makes a killer grilled cheese. On the other hip, it is so good and delightful and makes a killer grilled cheese. :)

 

I hit a parked car. And my luck would have it that the estimate for the repair is a few dollars over the deductible. Ugh! Any minivan drivers out there? Do you love it? 

 

C got some cowgirl boots!!! Thanks to Target for these adorable little gems. Thanks to Grammy for that cute dress!

 

 

Here's Ellie relaxing at the park. She makes strollers look good. She also makes Casper look tan. Both girls enjoy riding in the stroller which is a good thing because I recently started the Couch to 5K program. I just finished week 3 and didn't die! Woohoo! I have some serious knee pains so I ordered new shoes. I'm looking forward to running next week when those puppies get here!

 

C went to an airplane themed birthday party. How cute is this backdrop?

 

 

Sisters. They are so good to each other. They make me so happy!

 

 

Ellie turns 9 months old in a couple of weeks. Eek! I might have forgotten to take pictures on her 7th and 8th month marks...oh well. Second child problems. I'll post more about her milestones then.

 

 

Merry Christmas!

I've exactly 2.4 minutes to write before the girls wake up. We've been so busy lately that I've not had a spare moment to blog! So much has happened (Ellie 7 months old and sitting up, Caroline is getting more independent by the day, Katie is growing gray hair at an alarming rate...) that I had hoped to update you on, but time has flown by too quickly. I promise to write more once the holidays are over!

Here are a few pictures to quench your Smith girls thirst (I'm talking to you, grandparents and great-grandparents!)

The girls had a great time with Santa. I was so impressed by their non-crying smiles!

The rest of these pictures were taken when my family was here for Ellie's baptism. These were taken Gia Guidry.



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Woah, Ellie!

When did Ellie Kate get big enough for a high chair?!? 

She ate puffs, graham crackers, and part of a fruit bar. She's still working at the sippy cup. Overall her first high chair feeding was a great success! So was the required bath after! 

Here's a picture of big sister in her new coat and boots. It finally got cold enough to wear more than a tshirt and shorts!