Congrats Marjorie and Ken

My dear friends, Marjorie and Ken, tied the knot last night in Clear Lake. The wedding ceremony was formal and included traditions from Marjorie's Filipino heritage.

The veil symbolizes God's protection over the couple, the knot symbolizes being tied together for the rest of their lives.

Here was the first hint that the reception would be a big hit with me...a table full of homemade cookies! The whole room smelled like sugar!

Marjorie, Ken, and I all started working at ConocoPhillips at the same time (2003), and we were all in the same training class. We spent three months as a group in a classroom training setting and had tons of fun together that summer. Almost everyone from the training class was at the wedding. Here are most of the girls I started with.

Joanna, me, and Dorothy. We still see Dorothy at least once a year even though she lives in Kansas now. We met for a quick lunch before the wedding started.

And here I am with the bride, Marjorie. She will be moving to North Carolina while Ken finishes graduate school. I will really miss our monthly lunch dates.

Some pictures

Here are some pictures showing what we've been up to lately. Dan took this picture on Sunday. It was cold, but Lydia really wanted to be outside. So we snuggled up in a wool blanket and enjoyed the sunshine together.

Lydia likes to wave and say "bye bye" to me before she goes to play in her cabinets. She will bring all sorts of toys in here with her!

Here she is pretending to sleep in a box. I think "night night" is one of her favorite games.

Today I put this really cute tulle skirt on Lydia. She proceeded to find all her fairy accessories to complete the outfit.

All gussied up.

Twirling!

Snow Day

From Daddy:

Renee hosted a brunch at our house on Saturday morning which just so happened to be the same day as our neighborhood's annual Snow Day. So while the ladies did their deal at the house, Lydia & I enjoyed some great father/daughter time. We walked down to the park to see a bunch of boys engaged in some pretty serious snowball fights and lots of girls making designs in the snow. Lydia was a little grouchy and a bit tentative, but was extremely curious to know more about snow. I held her hand and we walked around the place to survey everything. She eventually got the guts to touch the snow. Here's a summary of what I think she learned (in order of worst to BEST):

1) snow is cold and it will make your hands hurt if you keep touching it

2) snow can be very hard so you may not want to crawl on it

3) snow can get pieces of leaves and dirt in it which, by definition, is DIRTY (i.e. not good)

4) a mini snow shovel is very similar to a broom (possibly the coolest toy in the whole world) and can be used to rake/sweep snow

5) snow is what you use to make a snowman

I really loved #5. Lydia quieted watched me as put 3 small snowballs together and two pieces of leaves on the top ball. All was quiet until I broke a small twig and stuck them in the sides of the middle ball, and then she exclaimed "No Man!" --- that's snowman for those who don't speak the language. She was thrilled. She loves a snowman.

Curb Appeal

This picture is an overgrown reminder of what I had to look past when I first visited what is now my house. I really should be grateful to the forest...it probably detracted many buyers from even considering the house. We had several trees cut down and others trimmed, regraded the yard, installed drainage and a sprinkler system, planted new sod and plants, and replaced the country blue shutters with dark green ones. It will take a few years for the new bushes and plants to fill out, but I'm already excited to plant spring flowers to add a little color.

Home sweet home.

Back in Monkey Business

I searched and searched; then I bought a new camera. Here's a picture of Lydia with her new monkey (he rolls over and laughs). She thinks the monkey is so funny.

Showing off her earrings!
Just reading a book

Where am I?

I lost my camera right before Christmas. Tear. It's just no fun blogging without pictures. I was so excited to post before and after pictures of the front of my house too. I need to look for the camera at my mom's house this week (or else it's time to buy a new one). Hope to be back soon!

Growing families and growing bellies

Amy and Cole came from Seattle for a visit the week before Christmas. The first few days were really low key since Cole had a cold and was adjusting his sleep times and sleeping in a strange place (rough combination). Amy and I did make it to the fabric store where she helped me finalize some fabric choices for pillows (my never ending house project). It was so fun to play with our kiddos and compare our baby bellies. Amy and I are both having boys in April...probably in the same week!

Our bellies at 22/23 weeks

Not the greatest picture as it was taken at the end of a long day

While Amy was in town, my grandma also came in town to celebrate her 80th birthday. I don't have any pictures from that (missing camera) yet. We also spent a day in the Woodlands with Stephanie and Jon. Stephanie is a great auntie to her niece and nephew. She helps us lug our kiddos around the mall and everywhere else too!