Happy Birthday Samantha!

Tons of fun here in Texas.  We had some cold weather, but also lots of sunshine and nice weather.  The leaves just fell off the tree in January, so we made a pile and had some fun.

Zoey has become quite the artist.  She can write her name.  And she loves to draw our family, usually with a tiny Petunia :)

She sometimes make silly faces.

And she loves "ice skating" on the tile.

Samantha turned 7!  Yikes!  Here she is on her birthday.

We are so lucky that Nana came to town to celebrate.

There were lots of gifts.  We spread them out.

And we celebrated with a lunch with the girls, me, Nana, and 2 friends and their mothers.  We went to American Girl Cafe and had a birthday bistro lunch.  The girls were so excited.  They wore fancy dresses and dressed their dolls. 

Sam and her friends.

She even got a crown.

It was yummy!

I continue to get bigger.  Here is 20 weeks.

Here is 25 weeks, hearts for Valentine's Day.

Happy Valentine's day!

Happy New Year Florida Style

 After we celebrated Christmas, we headed to Lakeland for New Years.  We had so much fun seeing family and friends.  We even had a PALS reunion party/surprise baby shower for Petunia.  We have some great friends!  The trip was so busy it is a bit of a blur.  It sure was hard to come home.  Even harder because it has been cold and damp.

Of course there were presents from Nana and Papa.

My cousin Linda and her family plus came to go to Universal studios.  Here are the girls with their second cousins; Blake, Kevin and Olivia.

Mom, Linda, Sam, Zoey and I had a girls day of fun shopping.  

And of course Papa was there to entertain.

We had a fun playdate with Zoey's best friend Nick and his brother Rowan.

We also overlapped with Sally, Scott, Izzy and Charlie.  We had breakfast and some fountain playtime.  It is so nice to get the kids together.  

We also got to see a former colleague and his family.  The kids played really well.  

We also overlapped with Aunt Tracy and Uncle Bruce.  They are always a big hit with the girls, so it was great to spend time with them.

And we got to celebrate a very special little boy's first birthday.  Happy Birthday Rowan!

Rowan stood for the first time!

And right after we got back, I had my anatomy scan.  Petunia looks great.  The maternal fetal specialist said he could scan me all day.  Everything was "gorgeous" from her brain to her heart.  And she was estimated at 11 ounces.  Nick was also told that he was not allowed to stop at 3, but needed to try one more time for a boy :), ironic since the doctor has 4 boys.

We hope everyone is enjoying 2015.  We are staying super busy.  Marshall started Monday and UHCL starts Tuesday.  And of course, we are about to enter birthday season.  Sam will be celebrated with a small lunch at the American Girl Cafe.  I still have to plan Zoey's.

End of the year fun!

We went to the park for a cool but fun time.

I got a nice picture of Sam.

Zoey has informed us that she does not like the name Zoey.  She has declared that she shall be called Zo-Zo, after we rejected swapping names with Samantha.  So here is Zo-Zo with her Santa gift, Ella Grace,

Here she is being silly on the truck.

The girls got matching swan necklaces from Nana and Papa and matching swan shirts from us.  We love and miss Lakeland!!!!  They would not both sit still for a great picture, so here is the best I got.

We hope everyone has an amazing New Year!  And Go Jackets in the Orange Bowl!

Christmas fun!

The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas have flown by.  We have stayed busy and here are some highlights.

We went to a local town, Dickinson, to grab dinner and walk through their lights.  It was no Lights of Lakeland, but was pretty neat.  We also went to a walk through Bethlehem at the local Methodist Church, but I did not take any pictures.

I need this in my yard!

We had some Santa parties.  The moms club one could not get a dad to play santa, so a mom with sick kids did, but she did not have boots, so red toenails it was.  :)

We also had a neighborhood party.  The girls had a blast.

We met the Pabons at Kemah.  We had a blast, even though it was so cold.

The girls and I went to the local nature center.  They have one free Sunday a month.  It was pretty and they have an old farmhouse and bison.

 And there were some early presents.  Sam got a nerf rebelle, so Zoey pulled out the old smaller ones.

My main gift is a new oven.  The old one was original and the microwave made a weird noise and the oven had only one working element and was not working well.  So we bought a new one at Sears outlet.  It was a double convection.  Nick had to redo the cabinets to fit it and there were still a lot of challenges.  But it is in now and so pretty.  I also got this spice organizer.  

Sam and Zoey opened a few things already.

Sam continues to work hard at piano.  She has enjoyed the Christmas songs a lot.  She was nervous about being taped, but she is doing so well for having done lessons just over a year.

Merry Christmas from the Southern Kellings!  Hope everyone has a joyous and peaceful holiday season.