Aren't we Gorgeous?

Here's a few snaps of our sweeties last week:
Miss Mary Collins:

Miss Margaret Ann:

Together Again!

This is so overdue but I'm posting it anyway. The boys took vacations to grandparents two weeks in a row. It's been just me and the girls or me and Henry and the girls and boy have we done some getting out about. Anyway, this past week the boys have had to jump back into reality and the kids have been so happy to be reunited! (that's why it's taken me over a week to post about it, ha!) Here's the McCoy family pyramid:
And I think it's safe to say I should put up a gate. Now those girls haven't even acted like they knew those stairs were there when it was just me and them. But now that the boys are back they can't get enough of them. Here's Mary Collins climbing up to her brothers.

Here she is puckering up for some sugar!

Now I have no pictures of Margaret climbing b/c quite frankly the girl is fast! She is up there in a flash! MC takes her time and talks to herself while she climbs....not MA. She's up those stairs at lightning rate speed! The good thing is they don't try to come down them. They just get close to them and scream for someone to carry them down!

An Educational Weekend

This past weekend we spent our Saturday out and about. We ate lunch at DQ, which is an educational experience in and of itself. If you don't know about DQ you should definitely get educated! Of course I'm a sucker for fast food. After some delicious lunch and ice cream we headed to Dallas. We went to the aquarium where we learned about all kinds of animals. The kids had a blast seeing all the animals and I thought it was great too. I've never been to another aquarium so I don't really know how this one compares but I give it an A+ myself. There were tons of beautiful birds but I only got a picture of the flamingos:
These are spotted stingrays and they were soooo cool. One of them got a little upset at all the little hands on his tank I think and almost jumped out! It was so cool according to the boys!

The girls liked to see all the animals as well. They started out in the stroller but decided they needed a closer view as time went on so we held them most of the time. Here they are checking out a turtle:

Henry didn't quite grasp the concept of look, no touch.....he tried to hit every tank. Poor fish....

This is the manatee.....he was my favorite!

Now the sharks were quite impressive. Their tank was in a tunnel so they swam all around and above you. Here is a sawfish:

More sharks. Of course the boys' favorites were the sharks!

Here's a hammerhead shark:

And a seahorse:

There were a lot of other animals that I didn't take pics of. But topping our list of favorites were a pair of owls, some kind of rabbit that lives in Africa, several alligators, a jaguar, and some catfish that were bigger than the boys! We had a great time learning about some animals! Then while we were downtown we headed over to the Sixth Floor Museum which is where Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK. You have headphones and go through the museum self-guided seeing pictures and lots of videos. I have no pictures of this b/c you can't take pics there. I could have taken pics on the grassy knoll outside where the motorcade passed by when The President was shot but I had five hungry children on my hands after the tour so I opted out. Now, I am no history buff. Ask any of my teachers. I never cared for history much in school. It was one of those subjects where I just memorized the answers for the test and that was it. I can't name all the Presidents or tell you much about any major war, what started it, who fought in it, etc, nor can I tell you much about any significant event in history. I know, I should be ashamed (I can hear my mother now). But this was sooo interesting. Clayton loves stuff like this and I have to say I'd like to go back kidless so I could get the full effect and takes pics from the grassy knoll. This is the second time I've been surprised at how great places like this are. The first time we went to San Fran we toured Alcatraz and it was by far my favorite thing we did (even topped the shopping, which was amazing!) So I would highly recommend going to the Sixth Floor Museum if you're ever in Dallas. Charlie even said he wanted to go back and wear the headphones. He opted not to and William wore some and listened. We swung by the Dallas Farmers Market after the museum and while those $8 watermelons sure looked tasty we opted for a $3 grocery store one. All in all we had a pretty educational weekend.

We're One! Birthday Fun!

I can't believe a year has passed by already! Although it hasn't flown by quiet as fast as it does when there's just one baby it has still flown by pretty fast. This year has definitely made me stronger and the Lord never ceases to amaze me with His blessings. I can't wait to watch my daughters grow into young ladies. They are such a joy! They actually turned one while we were at the McCoy family reunion so we celebrated their birthday this past weekend with both sets of grandparents. It was really low key but the kids had fun and the girls loved all their presents. We had a cupcake party! We had cupcakes from Sprinkles, yum yum!!!! We got a variety of strawberry, vanilla milk chocolate, coconut and vanilla.
We sang to Mary Collins first. Henry helped her blow out her candle:

Then we sang to Margaret Ann and Henry was wanting to help her too:

Margaret Ann modeling her birthday suit:

Mary Collins modeling her suit:

Time to eat! Margaret Ann:

Mary Collins:

Opening their presents with mom and lots of help from William:

They loved all their toys! They got balls, and shopping carts with groceries, push strollers, a doll house, a tea set, sunhats, some bedtime carebears, several bathtube toys, and a jump-o-lean. Here they are playing balls: MA:

MC:

MA having her own tea party:

And MC giving her baby some sugar while taking her for a stroll:

Jumping around:

And here they are modeling their sunhats that Kay Kay sent them. They have ladybugs on them!! Our future Phi Mu ladies: MA:

MC: