Is it a mermaid? Is it a ballerina? Is it a monster?

No, it's Genevieve!

Genna played dress up with my old ballet costmes and various other costumes my parents have aquired with Uncle David and Great-grandmother watching.

Dallas World Aquarium

The DWA was really really fun! I am so glad my parents thought of it because I didn't even know about it. It is new since I lived here. Anyways, the girls had a great time! A small hornbill even landed on my back while we were in the jungle exhibit (the jungle exibit is pictured above). They had much more than just fish. It had everything from monkeys, birds, bats, snakes, and even a panther, in addition to aquatic life of all kinds. It had a shark tunnel where you could walk through and see all the sharks swimming around you. I loved how all the animals were mixed in together like they would be in the wild. My dad took some great pictures:

Mimi and the girls are looking at sting rays, ducks, and turtles all in one exibit.

The girls are in front of one of the big tanks with all kinds of fish and one giant manatee!

Here was their favorite thing...the lively otter. The otter kept diving in and swimmimg up right in front of them. They loved it!

Here they are in front of the flamingos. The girls even tried to imitate them by standing on one leg.

Lessons only grandparents can teach

Well, it all started when Hannah and I were playing in the kitchen and she fell. She fell on her bottom and hands on the tile which could not have merited the crazy dramatic response that it got. Since I was involved in the fall, she starts wailing for Mimi. Mimi rushes in and takes her away. At the same time I got Genna out of the high chair and she ran in to follow them only to discover that Mimi was giving chocolate to Hannah to make her feel better. So I walk in, and say, "What! Are you kidding me?! What's the chocolate for this time?" My mom sheepishly admits it is to make her feel better since she fell and was crying. Genna then starts doing this weird squat thing. When I asked her what she was doing she said, "Genna wants to fall down." That is impressive for a 21 month old! She learned very quickly how to get some chocolate in this house. I think I am going to have to confiscate all the chocolate in the house for the duration of this visit. This is getting ridiculous!

Family Gathering

We had a little get together at my family's house on Saturday morning. Here is the group picture. There were a lot of missing people due to illness, but we still had a great time!

The promised video of the girls in concert!

A fun weekend...here are the pictures!

Aunt Kristen and Hannah after Aunt Kristen curled her hair and painted her nails...I think she may be trying to make a clone of herself!

Poppa Boat and the girls

Aunt Kristen and Genna

Aunt Kristen and Hannah act silly

Leah teaches Genna how to use a camera

The girls try to share the rocking chair I had when I was a little girl

Poppa Boat and Genna come back from getting the mail

Aunt Kristen and Hannah share a lemon

The littlest Smith makes some noise!

I felt mystery baby #3 kicking for the first time last night. He/she was kicking away for a good 45 minutes while I was sitting and talking with family. I am so happy! I have been waiting for this for a week because I started feeling Genevieve kick at exactly 16 weeks, and I am 17 weeks and a few days now. This is one of my favorite parts of being pregnant because it makes me realize how amazing it is to carry a growing baby (with a personality already) inside of me. I can't wait to see what this baby will be like. Hannah was a wiggle worm who never stopped moving and trying to shove body parts out of my tummy...a mover and a shaker from the get go! Genevieve was so laid back moving a good amount, but never pushing hard or stretching out to much. She was in a little ball most of the time. A sweethearted girl who has loved to cuddle and sleep all along! I love how unique my little gifts from God are!

Genevieve's surprising everyone, even me!

I have been so surprised how social she has been on this trip. Normally, if there's a large group or new people talk to her she clings to me until people don't notice her anymore. Since coming to the states, she has been very quick to open up to people. She seems to have a soft spot for Poppa Boat. Today she asked me for more grapes (her absolute favorite food in the world!) and I said, "After you eat some more peas." She didn't miss a beat and turned straight to her Poppa Boat saying, "Poppa Boat, may I have some more grapes, please?" I guess she figured out that he has a soft spot for her as well!

She is also much more aware of what everyone is saying than I thought. I knew she understood, but I didn't know she listened as carefully as she does. The other day, Hannah got scared during a game of monster with her Unlce Kent that was initiated by her. She was crying in Mimi's arms when Poppa Boat asked Genna if she was scared too. Genna said, "No Genna's not scared; Hannah's not tough." Oops! That may be a direct quote from Mommy. I probably shouldn't say that anymore! Bad Mommy!

Genna is continuing to wow everyone with her long intricate sentences and her cute answers to "Why" questions. She has actually been out talking her sister lately which I would never have dreamed would happen. My only problem with that is that I LOVE quiet, and the way things are looking I may not meet my quiet quota again until my kid's are out of the house!

Mimi and Poppa Boat's house

This weekend Uncle Kent and Leah came to see the girls and I. Here's Uncle Kent and Hannah:

Here is Genna in the gown Leah had made for her:

Today we went to the park with Poppa Boat.

Poppa Boat read the girls a story.

Busy Week

We have been moving all over the place and so it has been very hard to find time to blog. So I've go some catching up to do. I am adding the pictures from the zoo to that post.

At Nanna's house we also went to the children's museum. Here are the girls in their new Aggie outfits from Nanna sitting on giant teeth. Gigem' Aggies!

Here the girls are on an archeological dig at the museum. Hannah thought this was great fun, but Genna got scared of the little rubber pieces that made up the "dirt." It was kind of strange. She's usually not scared of much, but when one of the pieces landed on her she totally freaked out.

On Wednesday we went to Gigi and Poppy's house. We saw lots of friends and family. The girls had a blast with their cousin! And we found out there is a new cousin in the making, due just 2 months after our baby! Yea!

Here is Poncho, Gigi and Poppy's Amazon Parrot, attempting to lure some juicy fingers into the cage. It was really funny, because the bird usually runs from people if they approach the cage. But with the little kids she comes over and down the cage talking so sweetly to them as if saying, "Come here little girls. What innocent chubby fingers you have." Genna just loved the attention! I had to keep warning her not to touch. She even tried to kiss the bird at one point. I was telling her she would get bit, and so she listened. But upon hearing this, Hannah began sobbing, "Poncho's going to eat Genna!" How typically dramatic of her!

Here's Genna, our musical child, playing the piano at Gigi and Poppy's house. I will post a video of Hannah and her singing and playing together soon.

On Saturday we went through College Station to visit Genna' s godparents and some other very good friends that we had not seen since at least Genna's baptism. The kids had a great time playing together and the adults had time to talk and catch up. Here's a group picure of the kids before we had to say good-bye. I can't believe the're all looking and smiling!

Then we headed north to Mimi and Poppa Boat's house, and that is where we are today. The girls are finally acting like themselves again which is so nice! Hannah wants nothing to do with me because of all the fun people around to play with her. Genna is warming up nicely to everyone, but Poppa Boat and Uncle Kent are going to have to work a little while to get an actual hug or kiss from her.

A day at the zoo with Nanna

Nanna (Brian's mom) took us to the Houston zoo yesterday. The girls had a great time! Unfortunately all the animals they had listed on the way to the zoo that they wanted to see (lions, tigers, penguins, and polar bears) were not available because of renovations. And the zoo did not have any skunks which they also wanted to see. However, they enjoyed the animals they did get to see. I think Hannah said something about the animals being stinky about a thousand times. They loved the children's part. They played on the playground for quite a while. Genna is so much braver than her sister. Hannah still holds onto the slide the whole way down which slows her down. Genna just takes off with no hands, and when she got tot he bottom she would squeal and say, "This is so fun!" They also had a great time brushing the goats and sheep with brushes. They just walked around brushing every one once or twice then moving to the next one. We even saw a sea lion show where they brushed the sea lion's teeth. Here are the pictures:

Hannah with an injured bald eagle

Genna on a lily pad

Hannah on a frog

Genna sliding

The girls brushing the goats and sheep

We went to Lupe Tortilla's for dinner too! Here are the girls in the sand box at Lupe's. Genna was not so sure about getting her feet and hands dirty, but she did eventually take the plunge. Hannah loved it!

Great day! The kid's haven't got back on schedule from the time change yet and are overly tired still. Genna's not the same child, for sure. Hannah's doing OK now. Today is the first day they slept until 6am. I am still waking up at 4 or 5am in the morning and can't go back to sleep.

Welcome back to the USA!

We finally made it back. It was a long and very stressful week of trying to catch a plane to get over here, but we finally made it and just in time for our flight from DC to Texas. The girls slept most of the plane trips, so that was nice, but getting on and off the plane and around the airport was not always so easy. I really don't know how I will do it with another little one.
Hannah made so many friends this week that we had to have another talk about strangers. She actually took off through security with another family we had met because she wanted to be with her friend. Oh dear! In Germany it is a bit safer for her to be so social, but here it makes me very nervous. I have to admit she is quite the charmer. She had a grandma doing Ring Around the Rosie with her in the terminal, and the man next to her on our longest flight (referred to by Hannah as "Someone special") sang songs with her and told her stories until she fell asleep. Where did she come from? My favorite thing she said on the plane was, "Mommy, how does the airplane move without any feet?" That's a cute 3 year old question, huh?
Genna wanted me to do whatever some stranger was doing with Hannah, i.e. Ring Around the Rosie. She wanted to do it with sister, but didn't want to get that close to a stranger. She has had a hard time since she is not getting 13 hours of sleep at night, her usual beauty sleep requirements. She's been acting a bit like a (dare I say it?)...a two year old. I put her to bed early tonight and hope she can catch up soon so I can have my sweetie back.

It has been very strange being back. The light switches are lower, there are not 5 different kind of recycling trash cans at everyone's home, there are malls (I seriously forgot about them!), and to top it all off everyone speaks English. I am overwhelmed with a plethora of restaurants from which to choose! I am especially anticipating the Mexican food. When we first walked out of the airport Hannah wanted to know what that smell was. I replied, "It's pollution, Honey. We don't really have that in Germany, I guess."

Sweet Prayer

Hannah finished her prayer this morning with, "Jesus, help me to be more like you." Another Happy Mommy Moment!

Happy Real Birthday, Honey!

We had to say good bye to daddy today for a while, probably a long while. Hannah was exceptionally sad this time. Perhaps she is getting old enough to understand the pending separation. He told her he had a picture of her and Genna in his bag, and so she insisted on getting a picture of him to carry around with her. I found two identical pictures of him and Brian wrote a note to each of the girls on them. She will barely put it down. She talked to the picture like her dad was sitting right there. She is a daddy's girl!

Today is his real birthday as well. So happy birthday, Husband and Daddy!

Happy Birthday to me!

Sunday morning, Brian and Hannah brought me breakfast in bed. (Genna missed out because she sleeps so late!) I got a new rocking chair and a sweet card. We had a potluck at church after Mass which is always fun, and friends from out of town came in to watch the Super Bowl (which started at midnight and I saw none of it). We went to a movie earlier in the evening and got a babysitter for the kids. The movie was OK, but the night out with friends was fun. It was an eventful day!

My friend from out of town is pregnant also, due 5 days before me. She thinks I may be carrying twins because I am twice her size and she had twins before that they missed in earlier ultrasounds. Whew, that would be something! I don't know about the timing being good, but at least God knows. I will be happy either way. Two is better than one, right? Correction...I may be a little overwhelmed if it is two girls, but I am sure I'll survive.