Let's Go to the Zoo!

Sadly, our very good friends (and neighbors) are moving to Chicago soon, so we felt that it was our duty to take them to the zoo before they moved.  The weather was great, so it made for an awesome day at the zoo.  

Avery and Shay Shay checking out the elephants:

Anna decided the best animal viewing spot was on Daddy's shoulders:

 Photo op for Avery & Baby Archer:

And of course no zoo trip is complete without a carousel ride:

 I think it was the highlight for Dave:

... or maybe Becky - she was pretty excited too:

 This was our first time to feed the giraffes - I had no idea that's what a giraffe's tongue looked like!

Anna needed a little push to get close enough.  The poor giraffe was choking himself on the fence trying to get the lettuce from Anna.  

Always love an excuse to hit the zoo, but we will miss you Lewandowskis!

Easter is still not over!

One more Easter pic from Anna's egg hunt at school.
Love her excitement!

Good Friday... Great Weekend!

After living in the Houston area for 10 years, we decided to FINALLY make a day trip to Galveston and hit the beach!  It took us long enough, but it was worth the wait!  We made it to Galveston just in time to eat an early picnic lunch on the beach and had all afternoon to play.  The girls loved it!  It’s amazing how much happiness a little sand and water and bring!

Daddy who gave his two little princesses mermaid tails:

Anna gave herself some “tights”:

Saturday morning, we headed to Atkinson Farms to pick strawberries!  Anna was not quite as discerning with her strawberry selections, so we have 8 ½ pounds of strawberries currently sitting in our fridge. 

Annual Easter church picture
(we cheated and went Saturday night!):

And then the Easter bunny came and helped us get ready for summer:

After our egg hunt, we headed to Jannie & Pops’ house for a nice big lunch, followed by a nice big nap. 

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

'Twas the night before Christmas...

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night... 

THREE!

 Happy Birthday to my...
super sassy,

oh-so-expressive, 

very demanding, 
born to keep her momma on her toes, 
hand on hip posing,

lollipop eating, 
"long" hair wearing, 
boppy and blankie obsessing, 
pat her back and fast kisses requesting, 
roller coaster hating, 
ballet dancing, 

yellow loving, 
color everywhere but on her paper, 
cuddle bug.

To my best Christmas present ever...

Happy Birthday Anna Jo, we love you! 

Santa!

TWO smiles on Santa's lap - definitely a Christmas miracle!!

Amigos!

I have been meaning to do a post on our sweet neighbors who moved away this summer for years (let’s be honest, I’ve been meaning to do LOTS of posts lately!).  A little history…

My girls (and our whole family) just latched on to this family – they moved to The Woods 2 ½ years ago from Trinidad and Tobago.  Lucila (Lucy), Juan & Juliet became fast friends with our crew. Juan would even knock to see if Mr. Ryan could “come out and play”.  Avery and Juliet were close to the same age, but it was Anna and Juan that formed a special little bond.  There aren’t too many little 9 year old boys that would stop playing with his friends in the street to come say hi to a 2 year old little girl. 

He loved to make her laugh, and she gave him a nickname that spread throughout the neighborhood.  Before Anna turned 2, Juan tried so hard to get her to say his name.  We were working on English at the time, so learning a Spanish name was just not in the cards. ;) One night while playing outside, Juan was determined to get her to say his name:

Juan – “Anna, can you say Juan?”

Anna – “Two!”

Juan – “No, JUAN…”

Anna – “TWO!!”

(Read it aloud if you didn’t get that. ;))

So precious – so from that moment forward, Juan was always “Two” – both in our house, and on our street!  We were so very sad to see them go, but so very happy they recently came back from Spain to visit (or Speeen if you ask Avery).  Even though it has been 6 months since we saw them last, everyone seemed to pick up right where they left off!

(Not pictured - Lucy.  She made a special trip just to see Ave.  Someone happened to be throwing a fit at the time, so we did not get a picture!)