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.