PJ parties...one down...two to go!

i guess the new christmas rage for kids is to have pj parties, cause every christmas party that we have gone to or we are going to--every kid is supposed to wear their pjs....so, out with kids dressing up pretty for christmas and in with every kid wearing pjs at odd times of the day! i think that it is a really cute idea, but kendall on the other hand, thinks it is bizarre. this is the kid who never likes to do anything out of order (it must mess with her brain or something), so the idea of wearing your pjs during daylight hours and going to a party in them is really throwing her off.....but, i convinced her that 'everyone is doing it' and off we went to the first party....of course, brooke had matching pjs (so cute!!)

kendall actually had a cute hat to go along with her pjs and here are her exact words on it "i will wear those horrible pjs, but i am definitely not wearing that hat!" but since brooke still doesn't know better, she wore the hat--and i loved every minute of it!

so here we are decorating cookies and let me tell you, brooke does not miss a beat anymore---if kendall is doing it, she better be doing it too--i decided that letting her decorate a cookie might be awful, so i just threw some sprinkles down for her and she was just as happy!

here they are while they were reading the story of baby jesus....

and of course brooke standing.....cause that's what she does!

umm...what?? oh yea, brooke waving..

here is a clip of michael trying to get brooke to wave...

and take two.....

and yes, brooke does have clothes.....i just like her better this way!!

oh...i could listen to this all day!

here is a clip of brooke laughing at kendall....music to my ears!!!

what kendall is thankful for......

just because it is a little hard to hear.....

kendall is thankful for everything....she is thankful for her house, the lamp, her church, outside, playhouses, parks and drinks and that's it....

so there you have it! what are you thankful for?

look at me!

so brooke is now all over the place..i tried hard to keep her in one spot, but those days are over! even though she can crawl all over the house, her favorite thing to do is stand up...on anything...and she does it for such long periods of time. she will pull up on something and just stand there for 20 minutes. suits me fine, i know when she has found something to stand with, she will be there for a while! i think she thinks she is more like kendall when she is this way. here she is just standing on the coffee table watching kendall play with barbies.

you got a fire....i got the girl

kendall got a fire fighter hat a little while ago and just about every afternoon she wants me to pretend i am stuck in a fire and she comes running in and puts it out.......her is a clip of her fire fighting skills.....

ok, so maybe it would be best if you did not rely on her in the case of a real fire....little clumsy, little crazy--yea!

do you know how blessed you are?

so, today i was shopping with brooke and while i was looking around an older lady came up to me and was looking at brooke and brooke was smiling at her......she commented on how cute she thought brooke was and then she said something i have heard before, but for some reason i really listened this time.......she said 'do you know how blessed you are to have her?' i said yes, but really thought about it for a long time and still keep thinking about it. i started to wonder 'do i REALLY know how blessed i am?' sometimes it is so easy to take it all for granted. so, my question for you today is.......DO YOU KNOW HOW BLESSED YOU ARE?........think about it. you will be glad you did!

sleeping beauty....

kendall was sleeping beauty for halloween........no, she really was sleeping beauty, at least she thought she was when she put the costume on. she would make me kiss her to wake her up and everything. since she is so into sleeping beauty, i bought her the sleeping beauty movie that is now out on dvd. can you say bad idea?? the movie is totally scary--i mean really, the entire movie made her have bad dreams and now all she talks about are witches! great....


anyway, here is a pic of her as sleeping beauty.........she had so much fun trick or treating (of course), she just can't figure out where all her candy went......i don't know, the witch must have come in here and taken it!

grapevine express

well, i decided that kendall and i needed a mommy-daughter day because i was tired of sitting at home and playing the 'i said yes, she said no i don't want to game'. so, i made reservations for us to take an all day train ride out of grapevine down to the fort worth stock yards. we had a ball! it was so fun, kendall loved the train ride and the free lolipops!

here are some pictures of the train and her lolipop!

the fort worth stockyards are really neat, i had never been. it is what you would picture texas to be--cowboys, horses, rodeos, longhorns, live music, bbq.

when we first got to the stockyards, there was a band playing music and kendall decided to dance--on the side walk with everyone around, she did not care--dance like nobody's watching is the saying, right? well, she did!!

then, kendall decided that in order to be a 'real' cowgirl, she needed a cowgirl hat and she said "mommy, real cowgirls wear pink hats--so, i think i need one!" so, we went on a search for a pink hat that would fit a three year old and not break the bank--and we found one! it was really cute--i must say!

then, we went to watch a rodeo. i could not believe how much she enjoyed watching the bull riding. she kept saying ' mommy those horses sure are going crazy!' and the entire time the cowboy was riding she would say 'hang on!' as loud as she could.

so, i decided after our day together that i needed to do more adventures like this--just me and kendall. she says almost everyday 'I wish I was a grown up' and the crazy thing is, i am going to blink and she is going to get her wish.........

old stompin' grounds....

well, this past weekend we visited houston for the first time since moving. it was good to go back. looks like all the ike damage is getting repaired and things are looking like they did when we left. kendall got to play with her cousins and we had 'suppa club' on saturday night.

me vs. a 3 year old.....all day long!

so, each and everyday there is a new battle that kendall puts up for me. it usually changes from day to day.....everyone keeps telling me this is just her trying to become more independent, but it is hard---so, i try my best to pick my battles wisely. having said that, i asked kendall to get ready for dance--oh, she did: leotard on-check, tights on-check, shoes on-check, 8 bracelets on-check, sunglasses on-check, headband on-check, 3 necklaces on-check................and when i told her she had to remove the 8 bracelets, sunglasses, headband, 3 necklaces, well--that is where the first battle of the day came in............take a look.....

when kendall goes to bed each night she picks out her pajamas. her favorite pair of pajamas that she has are some dora pants and shirt that i bought for her when she was 14 months old (she is now 3 and a half)...well, each night before bed those are the pjs that she wants on....i try and hide them and she wants to find them and put them on.............so, here is kendall in her 'old faithful' pjs that are size 18 months. if you tell her they don't fit good, she pulls the shirt down as far as she can and lifts the pants up so high to prove to me that they do........this was the last battle of the day.............and of course, she wins this one

make a joyful noise....

brooke thinks kendall is the funniest, coolest person around. all kendall has to do is run around or look at brooke and she starts laughing so hard! here is an example......kendall is just cleaning her blocks up and brooke finds it hysterical....take a look...

sometimes when the house is a mess-i look like a mess-i feel like a mess; this is all it takes to make the day seem like it was a success!

let's go frogs....

we went to the tcu game again this past saturday night. it was really fun. kendall had a blast. there were a lot of other little girls her age there and they were able to all pretend to be cheerleaders.

usually kendall just stands there and looks at the cheerleaders and smiles, well last night the frogs must have really gotten into her because we look over and she is cheering herself--turned around (facing the crowd), it was pretty cute! i don't know where she got all that coordination from? hah!

no rest for the weary.....

i am convinced whoever came up with this saying must have had a toddler. here is a clip of michael coming home after work and wanting to watch a football game and relax. kendall had something else in mind........

my little fancy nancy......

so i have mentioned a couple of times on here that kendall loves the 'fancy nancy' books. i mean she loves them, they are her favorite thing to do at any time during the day. tonight when michael was putting her to bed, she said that she could read him the 'fancy nancy' book instead of him reading it to her---and she did, word for word! it was amazing! she knew every word and if you have ever read those books---they are full of hard words and phrases. what a mommy moment--so cute!!!

i tried to recreate it today because it was so cute, and of course not a good as last night, but you get the point.....

the 'good' and the 'not so good' from oklahoma city....

ok, lets start with the 'not so good'.....

• TCU lost their game to OU--big time!
  
• the zoo was a joke, but kendall did get to see nemo in the fish tank that they called an aquarium.....here she is waving to nemo!

now, let's move on the the 'good'.....

• kendall thought that staying in a hotel was so cool. she said that she felt exactly like 'fancy nancy' (anyone who has a 3 or 4 year old girl knows who fancy nancy is and probably has the books memorized--i know i do!) here is a picture of the girls after a bath at the hotel
  
• it was great to get away as a family, we probably don't do this often enough
  
• the science museum in oklahoma was one of the neatest places for kids i have ever been. here are some photos from it.......we could have spent two days there

here is a picture of kendall and brooke with michael in the indoor tree house....

here is kendall painting her face....

here is kendall and brooke in a huge mouth.....

here is kendall in the maze of mirrors--funny story, she is going along this maze and starts running full speed and ends up running right into a mirror--so, i tell michael that he has to try the maze of mirrors and we all go in it together and he and kendall start running and what do you know, i hear a loud thud and look over and michael had run into the same mirror full speed--so funny!! i could not stop laughing....

• bricktown (which is where our hotel was) is really neat. it is like a mini-riverwalk with restaurants and live music........here is kendall enjoying her ice cream on the river

someone is having a birthday....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN!

you are the best....wish we could be there with you!

great wolf lodge

last week during all the evacuations from hurricane ike, we had some friends that were in town and staying at the great wolf lodge. we went over for a day of fun in the water park. have you ever heard about the great wolf lodge (http://www.greatwolf.com/)? if not, you should check it out. it is a kids wonderland! there is an indoor water park; not a little water park, a huge water park with a wave pool-lazy river-slides, everything an outdoor water park would have. there is also a art room for kids and a huge play area for kids with games and rides. really neat place! we are trying to think about when we can go back, even brooke had a great time. thanks mistie and aubrie for letting us come and play!

happy birthday ashley

kendall and brooke's cousin ashley celebrated her 12th birthday on sept. 15---i remember the day she was born perfectly....i'll say it again, time is going too fast!!!! kendall thinks ashley is 'the coolest'. i am glad that they are getting to spend more time together!

brooke in a tutu

i took some pics of brooke today in a tutu that turned out cute. i figure this is her last photo session without much clothes! she is so fat and happy.....

to look at more, go to the website (www.kristiemillsphotography.com) and in the right corner there is a clients button. click on that and the password is brooke

look what hurricane ike brought us.....

as sad as we were to share with everyone the tragedy of hurricane ike, the silver lining was that our great friends--justin, suzanne and julianne came for a visit that we would not have had. they (like everyone in the woodlands) were trying to live without power and finally decided they had enough and headed up this way--and we are so glad they did!! the girls had so much fun playing and we had such a good time getting to catch up with them.

suzanne and i went to the mall tuesday afternoon and left justin with the girls--thanks justin! anyway, when we got home, this is what we found--what a trooper!!

grammy, papa & jenny

this past weekend we had grammy, papa and jenny in town from houston. it was scheduled a while back, but turned out to be a great weekend because they were able to escape ike! we had lots of wonderful meals and they got in a ton of hugs and kisses from the girls!

the last night that they were here, we decided to do a nice dinner. michael and i took them to this great italian place that we just love. i was a little worried how the girls would do on the way over-----kendall did just great! she pretended to be 'fancy nancy' (how many of you know who she is?) and brooke did something i have never seen her do at a restaurant.....take a look.....the stars must have been aligned in the right direction for me (at least for this evening!)

here is another picture of the whole gang--minus me (i was taking the pic!)

my b....

now that kendall is in preschool a few times a week, i am getting to spend more time with brooke alone and i am lovin' it!! she is so fun--when she is in the car without her sister next to her, she will just look up front the whole time at me. this is what i see when i look in my back seat--

brooke is also getting so much curly hair--she looks like she has very little hair when it is dry, but when it is wet it is crazy--take a look!

and last--we get very few times for all for of us to get in a picture, because i am always behind the camera, but here is a cute one of all of us.

can you find the 'real' baby???

one of kendall's favorite things to do is play with her babies. she reads to them and takes care of them. well, the other day i look over and see that she has brooke with all her babies and they are playing 'happy family'. it was so cute! brooke just fit right in with all the other babies and was loving the attention from her big sis. girls and pink everywhere--i just love it!!

can you do this??

yea, i didn't think so. this is kendall's new trick. i think it is pretty cool!

Go Frogs Go!!

so....i guess now that i live up here, i better start really liking the horn frogs. my mom and i went out and got the girls tcu cheerleading outfits and they look so cute! we went to the game on saturday and the girls wore their outfits. kendall was upset because she wanted to get down on the field and cheer! she did not understand why (since she was a cheerleader) she had to stay in the stands. michael is in frog heaven (and actually using his season tickets).

Thought I would start a blog.....

we'll see how this goes. if i can keep up with it--great!! since we moved to keller, we are out of touch with a lot of people. this will help keep everyone caught up on what we are up to!

the girls are growing so fast. kendall is 3 and brooke is now 7 months. where does time go. everyone said time would fly after you had kids and they were right.

we are getting settled into our new house and really loving it up here. the town is very friendly. kendall loves her preschool and dance class. she has not met any good friends yet, but that will take a little time. michael is doing great at his job and really liking the change. i am trying to start my photography business up here. after a couple years of really building my business in houston, it was hard to walk away from all of that. if you know anyone in the keller/fort worth area that wants pics--send them my way. the website is still the same:www.kristiemillsphotography.com

i have a ton of photos to post from this summer and what we have been up to so stay tuned.....