Beignets Anyone?

Aunt Linh made the trip out to NOLA in late January to visit the girls. I think she was a little anxious about how the girls would react to her after going so long without seeing her. It was NO problem. We had a great time!


We started by visiting Tulane...we toured the campus, took lots of pictures, and of course...visited the pool.




Then had an amazing brunch at The Court of Two Sisters (very appropriately named for the "sisterly" weekend). This was one of many stops to eat throughout the visit.














Last, and certainly not least, we stopped for our last round of beignets before Aunt Linh had to go back to San Diego. The girls were nice enough to share with us!







Thanks Aunt Linh for an awesome weekend!!! We love you!

Lunar New Year

The girls had a chance to celebrate the New Year (again) for the Vietnamese celebration of the Lunar New Year. We took them out to City Park to have their pictures taken in the dresses that Nana bought them during her last trip to Vietnam.

We got a Walker!

Just this last week, Olivia decided that it might be faster to get from point-A to point-B by walking like Mama & Daddy.

Check out the video to see this crazy-girl walk!

Babies' First Christmas

We celebrated our first Christmas with the girls in New Orleans this year. Nana and Papa made the trip from San Diego (with lots of presents). It was so great to have family in town to enjoy the girls and their first real present-opening experience. I think they enjoyed the paper more than anything!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABIES!!!

Our very first chairs! Grandma and Grandpa got us these awesome chairs for our birthday! We love them!






Olivia decided that using her hands was overrated. She went face-first into her cake.







Isabella took her time and cleared nearly all of the frosting off of her cake one bite at a time.

KRISPY KREME!!!

Nana, the twins, and I went out for a little Krispy Kreme fun this morning. I wasn't really sure how the girls would like the hats...or the donuts.

We put a donut on the table to distract them, then slipped the hats on when they weren't paying attention.

Both girls had a blast eating their first Krispy Kreme. They never even noticed the silly hats on their heads. I figured they'd make the donuts into mash while they stripped off the icing, but both girls finished off a whole donut and some! (Now you know they're going to be swimmers!)

There is no lack of appetite in this family!

We had a good time and got some good pictures out of it.

Yeah donuts!!!

Big Girl Food!!!

Jason and I are pretty excited about the idea of the girls feeding themselves. So far at dinner this week, we've gone through two jars of carrots, two jars of lil' sticks, three bananas, hundreds of cheerios, and a couple of bowls of mashed potatoes (who knew this was a finger food?)

I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoy being able to eat our own dinner simultaneously!

Turkey Day Special!

This year, we truly had many things to be thankful for; our family, our big healthy babies, our luck with jobs, and a successful move down here to New Orleans. Jason, Izzy, Olivia, and I were especially thankful for the Devine's who invited us out to their family celebration so that we could enjoy a good ol' New Orleans Thanksgiving. The food was phenomenal, the company was great, and the girls had a few other baby-girls to play with. Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Ole Man River Half-Marathon

September 8, 2008: I decide that it's time to start running again. I started off with a couple miles each run and started getting to the point where I could run for more than 30 minutes. I was feeling pretty good running about 3x/week.

October 14, 2008: My jogs started to get a little easier, and a little longer. Feeling very confident that I was getting back in shape, I decided to enter the Ole Man River Half-Marathon for November 23rd.

November 9, 2008: I complete my first 10-mile run since before the babies! It felt awesome...now I know that this half-marathon is doable.

November 13, 2008: I get sick...out of running for the next week.

November 23, 2008: Race Day! I cruised along for about the first 8 miles. Jason and the girls met me at miles 3 and 8. Seeing the girls was like a little energizer for the next mile or so.
After the turn-around, I started getting tired. Just as I started thinking "when do runners get their second wind?" I hit a wall. Everything was fine except for my legs. I was breathing fine, my heart rate was okay, but I felt like my legs were full of lead! I managed to finish in 2:06:30. Not the best time...but the race was definitely humbling! Next time...I'll try training for more than 10 weeks. As you can see from the picture...I didn't sprint the finish :)


Next up...the Mardi Gras Half Marathon on February 1, 2009. Come out and join me! www.mardigrasmarathon.com

Washington D.C.

Jason and I took the girls to Uncle Joe's for a mini-vacation earlier this month. It was a great trip! We got to see some of the newer memorials, go to the zoo, go to a couple of museums, and do a little sidewalk shopping in Georgetown. Jason even got to go to the Steelers/Redskins game on Monday night.

We saw the 911 memorial at the Pentagon.

The New-er WWII memorial between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial.

And the girls had a great time at the zoo!

Our First HALLOWEEN!!!

The girls will one day hate me for these costumes. But, since they're too young to tell me what they wanted to be, I had to make the decision for them! We didn't actually go trick-or-treating, but we did join the Devine family for a New Orleans style Halloween party (gumbo included). Jason, the girls and I all had a good time.

Hanging out in the Big D with the family

The last weekend in October, we went back to Plano to spend some time on the "G" side of the family. The girls got to meet their Uncle Dave who was home from Iraq on "R&R" and their cousins for the first time.

We had a hard time getting the girls to look at the camera all at once, but they seemed to be intrigued by the window, so we took what we could get! Aren't they cute?!
















Olivia - Isabella - Marcella

GUSTAV EVACUATION - Shreveport

Nap-time with Daddy


Up close and personal...


Hanging out on the floor


Flashdance making a comeback


Olivia at Aunt Les' House...big ham!


Izzy's typical "I'm not smiling" pose

FIRST BLOG EVER!!!

So, this is my first ever blog experience - inspired by the Walter and Harris families!

Our latest: We're in New Orleans, surviving the winds of Hurricane Ike. Jason started work today and the girls are hanging out at KinderCare. I'm up to my neck in recruiting and hoping that all of this work will help me start-up a solid program next fall.