HAPPY EASTER!

Happy Easter to everyone! The Easter Bunny came early to our house--Daddy wrote him a letter, asking him to stop by on Friday because Daddy had to go to Arkansas for his new job. The kids must have been very good, because the Easter Bunny brought them LOTS of presents!

This morning, before the egg hunt at Braedyn's school, I took some pictures of Brookelyn and Braedyn in their Easter outfits!

Stopping to smell the flowers:

B-man showing his pearly whites:

Miss "model" Brookelyn:


Both Bates Babies looking cute (and mischievous):

Braedyn is saying "cheeeeeese":

Brookelyn thinking of her Daddy:

Smiling by the flowers:

Two little angels:

We have BIG news...

Almost five years ago Allen signed his offer to join AT&T (then SBC), and we moved from New Orleans to Dallas (just two months ahead of Katrina)...


Since then we have moved from Dallas to San Antonio, had two children, and moved back to Dallas. It has been an amazing ride! However, today, our "ride" turned down a new road. We have decided to accept an offer from Sam's and move to Arkansas!

We are very excited about the possibilities the future holds for us. The next few weeks and months are going to be very crazy, as Allen reports to his new job in two weeks, but we welcome the turmoil (someone might have to remind me of those words). Watch out Razorbacks...here we come! (Oh, and can I please request a National Championship in the next few years, so I don't have to listen to Allen and David postulate for too long?!)

Brookelyn's Latest...

Today was "Dress Like Your Favorite Storybook Character Day" at school, so Brookelyn went dressed as Olivia. She was the cutest little pig! Here she is with her Olivia book:


She loved her nose the most--and brother was scared of it!


These next pictures are a little late, but Brookelyn had a school program last Monday. The kids all sang on stage together, and then we got to walk around and look at all the amazing art she had created. It was a wonderful evening!


You can see Miss Brookelyn in the middle of the stage singing about the B-I-B-L-E!

Yesterday, Brookelyn started swimming lessons. She was very timid at first, but slowly warmed up to her teacher, Miss Brenna. She will go twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday) for the next five weeks. Here is a little video of her swimming on her back:

Happy (Belated) Valentine's Day!

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day and hope you did too!

SNOW!

Well, Honey arrived on Monday morning and brought a surprise with her--SNOW! It started snowing on Wednesday night (we were oblivious) and by Thursday morning we awoke to a winter wonderland! It continued snowing all day Thursday and into Friday morning! We have had such a great time playing in it!

Here's Brookelyn on Thursday morning when she first got to go out:
And, B-Man loved it too--he kept trying to catch the flakes:

Honey and Brookelyn set out to make a snowman together:

They did a great job working on it!

And, here is Braedyn getting ready to go out for his second trip--this time with Daddy on Thursday night:

After sledding, which was really Daddy pushing the kids down the hills because the snow was so dry, Daddy set out to build a bigger snowman with Brookelyn! You can see B-man struggling to walk in the background. He looked just like a little bundled marshmallow!

The snowman broke apart, so Braedyn used it as a mountain!

Brookelyn has one huge snowball!

And, here is Daddy with his two little snow angels!
After we came in and warmed up, Mommy made "snow ice cream." We got a big scoop of snow, put in chocolate chips, and covered it with chocolate syrup!
The kids were EXHAUSTED and so were we! We had such a great time in the snow, but we hope it doesn't prevent Sashi from coming in this morning!

Kristine and Madison Come to Visit

We were so excited for Madison and Kristine to come visit! Last time they tried to come Brookelyn came down with the swine flu, so we have been anticipating their visit for a while. We had such a great time together! The kids played themselves exhausted every day, but some highlights included the playplace at Chik-fil-A, makeovers for the girls at Sweet and Sassy, shopping, and running around the house like wild animals! We can't wait to get everyone together again soon!

Here is a short slide-show of some of our fun:

Braedyn Starts Gymnastics!

Braedyn started gymnastics last week, but I forgot my phone in the car. So, I didn't have any pictures. I remembered my phone today, but trying to take pictures of Braedyn while also participating in the gymnatics class with him was HARD! So, the only ones that really came out were from the end of class (when I was able to sit down and take them).

Each week his coach teaches him different letters, colors, shapes, and animals. This week each child got to carry a snake around from station to station:
At the end of class the coach gives each child a sheet with all their activities on it. Then, coach puts a sticker next to two of the skills the child did very well at. Braedyn did a good job on the trampoline today!

Here is Braedyn saying "TaDa" at the end of class. He was very proud of himself (and so was I)!

Braedyn loves his coach, Nick (also Brookelyn's coach)!

Here he is right before we leave. I was trying to get him to look at me, but he was too engrossed in his skill sheet and stickers!

I will try to take better pictures next week! But, most importantly he is really enjoying himself, and I love having the one-on-one time with him!

Officially a Soccer Mom...and LOVING it!

Okay, so as of 5:30 pm yesterday, I am officially a "Dallas Soccer Mom!" But, that is okay with me because Brookelyn LOVES soccer! I wasn't sure what to expect out of a three year old soccer class, but it truly blew me away. Her coach is named Luiz--imagine a South American soccer player, and that is what Luiz looks like. Of course Brookelyn had some minor issues with her new coach, but after warm-ups were over, I was able to return to the parents cheering section (thank goodness because Braedyn was getting heavy on my hip) and sit down. Her coach was amazing with the kids (all girls and one boy) and really taught them quite a bit in just an hour. He made a great point that most parents want their kids to start playing in games right away, but this class allows each child to have their own ball (rather than only one in a game) and teaches them all the skills they will need to truly play the game of soccer with skill. Here are some pictures (not great I know because I took them with my phone while Braedyn was on my lap):

Here is Brookelyn (the last little girl in line wearing the black shirt and really cute skull legwarmers) waiting her turn at the agility course. Each child had to hop with two feet over the noodles and then kick the ball into the goal. She was so excited!

Here she is jumping. She was trying so hard to use both feet to jump over the noodles!

And, here she is scoring her first goal! It was great because after each child scored a goal, all the parents would yell and cheer. I could tell from the huge smile on Brookelyn's face that she was super proud of herself.

Coach Luiz had the kids running up and down the court so much that they had to have MANY short water (or juice) breaks. Brookelyn sucked down all her juice halfway through the class, so Mommy is going to have to bring back up drinks next time.

This was another agility exercise. Here, she had to run, weaving through the cones and score a goal. Again, she loved it.

We did have a minor problem. The kids were running after Coach Luiz with the noodles and Brookelyn busted it. She didn't catch herself because she was holding on to the noodle. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the time we took her to the ER for hitting her head on our bed, this was probably a 7. One mom wanted to go get a teacher, but I calmly assured her that we were pros at head bumps and that the ER doctor had previously advised us that it was very difficult to injure your brain by hitting your head on the forehead. After a few kisses and a nose blow, Brookelyn was out on the court again running around with everyone else.

Next Wednesday we get to do it all over again (hopefully, minus the head injury this time)--can't wait!

San Antonio Christmas

We had such a great time at Honey and Sashi's house over Christmas! Of course we were so busy having fun that I didn't take nearly enough pictures but here are a few that I managed to capture:



The kids began opening presents almost immediately! Braedyn just wanted to launch himself off the couch--luckily Daddy caught him. In the background you can see Brookelyn's special Christmas tree.

Here's Honey handing out the gifts and Sashi helping Braedyn open one of his presents. Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Tata were taking it all in.
Here's Daddy playing trash man.

The boys loved cuddling with Sashi in his big chair! You can see Brookelyn on the side--she can't sit still long enough to cuddle!

Daddy and Braedyn helped Honey cook breakfast one morning.

And, Sashi and Brookelyn cracked eggs for the breakfast tacos (only one ended up on the counter by some miracle).

This is a terrible shot, but it had to make it in because it is a one time event; Sashi actually took all three kids to the bathroom by himself. Who knows what happened in there, but everyone made it out in one piece.

We had such a great time and an amazing Christmas! Thanks so much, and we can't wait for everyone to get together again soon!

Christmas Morning

Allen and I had spent countless hours researching, shopping, looking, and buying the "perfect" gifts for Christmas morning. We couldn't wait for them to come around the corner and see all their loot! Here are the pictures from that morning:

The first thing Brookelyn went for was the Hello Kitty gumball machine (this is the item Allen had to fight a lady for at Target on Black Friday)! As a side note: Brookelyn has not eaten a single piece of candy out of it--on the other hand, Braedyn has gobbled enough for them both!

Here is Brookelyn pulling all her stocking-stuffers out. She was amazed at all the gifts because Allen had told her that maybe if she was really good Santa would leave her three or four presents.

And, here is B-Man taking it all in with Dino (his stuffed animal). He didn't quite "get it" at first and just watched sister rip through her presents.

That is until he spotted the candy canes Allen had put on the ground leading up to the presents. Then, he was thrilled to crunch his candy and sit on the sidelines.

Allen found these online and knew the kids HAD to have them. Yes, they are huge and have metal points on the end, but the kids did love them. Once it gets a little warmer I am sure we will have great pictures of the kids in their boots with their umbrellas!

Braedyn finally got going after about five candy canes. Here he is with his rubber lizard.

What you can't see in this angelic picture is that he is sitting next to the plate of Santa's leftover cookies. Let's just say Santa's leftovers were quickly gobbled up!

And, here is Brookelyn opening her highly anticipated Dyson vacuum (that really vacuums). She loved it!

And, of course so did Brother!

Then, Braedyn found even more candy canes inside his big bulldozer!

It was an amazing Christmas morning! We are so thankful for our beautiful babies (yes we are biased) and the memories we are so blessed to make with them!