February Little Things | Part One

Great news! The consulate has released our Visa's and we will be on our way next Wednesday morning!!! We are beyond excited :).  We have our Visa's in hand!!

We are going to go ahead and get back to regular scheduled programming and wrap up all of the little things that we did in February!

We started out the month at McDonald's one night.  I am going to guess that we were doing house/China stuff and dinner got away from us so McDonald's it was :).  Mandatory smooches before ice cream :).

Everly's imitation of Emma's mad face makes me smile every time.

The first weekend in February (February 6th to be exact), we had Emma's 4 year old birthday party. After we woke up from naps, she wanted to go to Nonni's house- I don't think she got enough Nonni time at her birthday party because things were so crazy- so we headed over, princess dress, birthday crown and all and had ice cream and Emma helped Nonni cook green beans.

The next morning, we woke up and the bounce house company hadn't picked up the bounce house so we blew it up and jumped one last time - even though it was pretty cold outside.

It really was quite the monstrosity in our backyard :), but one that the girls loved and adored.

Morning light plus socks for gloves for the win.

And we threw in lining up some of our toys for good measure.

Happy mommy and baby.  Before we headed to church, they came to pick up the bounce house (renting a bounce house was a totally foreign concept for the girls- they definitely thought we had purchased this for them- it never even occurred to me to tell them that it would just be ours for a day) so we said goodbye.  And had Everly dreaming of a bounce house for her 3 year old birthday party.  I didn't even go into the concept that we wouldn't be living at our house when she was three.

After church, Emma put on her purple leopard boots that were gifted to her and strutted her stuff.

We headed to Aldi to pick up a few things for the Superbowl party that evening and this girl was looking extra cute.

One night the next week, we headed over to Nonni's house for a mid-week ice cream treat.  Emma dressed herself and decided that inside-out was the way to go.

This might be one of my all time favorite pictures of the girls- I just love how sweet they look here, reading stories together.

The Friday before we headed to San Antonio, Wes hired some new help for the pool.

And he caught one of them sitting down on the job fairly quickly.  This was his description so I can't take any credit, but it seriously made me lol.

After they were done 'helping', Wes took them to the park to play.  How does she look sooo sooo big here??!!??

Love watching them explore the world around them :).

Sister hugs riding down the slide- look at that little belly popping out :).

Then, on February 13th, we headed out for San Antonio where we stopped at Zilker Park, Shake Shack, the Riverwalk, the San Antonio Zoo and ended our trip with seeing Peppa Pig Live!

And Everly immediately sticker-ed herself right up!

The first half of February was so so much fun! We hardly did anything for the move and just spent the majority of the time soaking up our sweet little family!!

Delayed...

We were supposed to take off yesterday morning on our big adventure, but we were delayed. Womp womp womp.  We have known since late Friday night that this was a possibility; but the optimist in me just didn't think it would actually happen. So here we are, waiting on our Visa's to get issued, while still living out of a hotel.  There have been so many challenging moments that come from living in a 1 bedroom suite out of our suitcases ranging from bad behavior to sleep troubles which leads to exhaustion which leads back to bad behavior and then daylight savings time to top it all off.

But, there have been so many sweet moments as well.  Emma reading nighttime stories to Everly, Everly gaining her confidence back in the pool (and yelling cannonball as she jumps in), Shirley Temples to our hearts desire, family breakfast every single morning, dinners with family and friends, swimming with Nonni and Papa George, extra time with their Grandma and Grandpa, a hotel staff that knows our nightly drink order and greets us warmly every morning, eating at our favorite restaurants 'for the last time' (and too many times at McDonald's) and lots and lots of snuggles and kisses.

The hardest part is being in limbo.  Our goods have been sent, but we still remain in our hometown.  We are ready for our adventure to begin.  We are ready for China.

San Antonio Roadtrip | Peppa Pig!!

Our last stop and the whole reason for going to San Antonio in the first place was to see the live Peppa Pig show! We parked downtown, made a pit stop for McDonald's and then walked over to the Majestic theater brimming with anticipation (mainly them ;)).

Wes had found some seats to the side, but in the front row (we were in the wheelchair area because no one ought those tickets so they opened them up the public) and the girls were ecstatic to be up so close!

Sister hugs before the show started :).

We got there about 20 minutes before the show started and they were E-X-C-I-T-E-D!

Emma wanted to do a 'go team' cheer- we always oblige because I always want them to think of our family as our own little team (always there for each other and always rooting each other on).

And then it was time for the big show- I don't have too many pictures (most were on Wes's phone and he had to delete them for space and didn't realize I hadn't saved them down yet), but here are a few.

The show was two twenty five minute halves with an intermission.  The only thing I would have changed is the start time of 2:00, right in the middle of my girls nap times.  Emma pushed through, but you could tell Everly would have rather been asleep for her nap in the second half.  Our seats had room for the girls to get up and move around which was nice too :).

After the show, we headed back to the car to drive home.  The girls were fast asleep before we even made it on the highway.  They napped all the way until Austin where we stopped for one more round of Shake Shack and this time added ice cream for the girls from Sandy's :).

Love this guy and the fun activity he found for our family :).

We had the best time roadtripping with the girls!  As hard as it is to get everyone off their schedules and routines, traveling together is always worth it- we always come back with the best memories :).

It's the Shirley Temple Life

And just like that, we are officially moved out of our house.  It was a bittersweet moment to see all of our stuff drive away, out of our driveway and down the hill.  It is crazy to think that we won't see those things for two years, but on that note, they are just things.  The three most important people are coming to China with me (sidenote, I continue to be amazed when people ask me if I am taking my family to China- don't they know I wouldn't go anywhere without those munchkins and my hubby!!) and that is what truly matters.

You might be wondering what it is like to live in a hotel with two toddlers; in one word, challenging.  Our sleep for the first two nights was terrible.  Last night was better and I hope tonight continues the upward trend.  Other than that, we have been managing the move, managing a team of people to get our house rental ready, working on and off and enjoying the upside of hotel like- pushing all of the elevator buttons and Shirley temples every night!

And an indoor pool!

I will come back and share more details as to what we did to get our house rental ready and can give you a breakdown of the costs if you are interested, but needless to say I have fallen in love with our house all over again! And we have our first showing tomorrow!!

We are just so excited and can't believe that our adventure is about to begin :).

San Antonio Roadtrip | Zoo

Sunday morning bright and early, we headed to the San Antonio zoo! The Peppa Pig show was not slated to start until 2 that afternoon, so we found ourselves with an empty morning and the zoo was the perfect fit.  The weather was a bit cooler and more overcast than the day before so Ev's bundled up and Emma preferred to wear a skirt and off we went.

Just a year ago, Christmas, the reindeer at the Gaylord frightened sweet Everly; it is just surreal to see her climbing right up to hang out with the lions.

She makes the perfect little lion cub, don't you think?

Tippy toe life when you are a shortie.

Hands down, the bears were the best at the San Antonio zoo! They were out, were adventurous and were just as cute as could be!

Daddy gave her a boost so she could get a better look.

We all loved it when one of the bears stood up to scratch his back.

I would like to think they were sisters and me and the girls really wished we could have taken them home with us, they just look so cuddly.

Evsie's was all about the animal sculptures.  She would walk up to them and reassure herself by saying 'nice lizard' before climbing on.

This sweet dragon even stole a kiss ;).

Next was the hippo's and the girls were obsessed with mommy hippo and baby hippo!

And I was obsessed with taking their picture, like normal :).

Emma took a break to read the map and pointed us in the direction of the 'nakes (snakes)..

Ev's checking out the big snake.

And this is how she felt about it- quite possibly my favorite picture all weekend :).

We actually got to see the hippo, up and out of the water before he sunk back in!

From the moment that we got there, Everly was asking, 'do you think they have zebra's here?' so our sweet girl was elated when we finally found them :).

Silly selfies with my baby girl that prove that this girl is for sure my mini me :).

We took a snack break and had peanut butter and jelly pretzels, heavy on the jelly.

And then made our way to the petting zoo where both girls hopped right in.

Emma even stopped to give the goat a hug, but the goat was not receptive to such acts of love- he quickly hit her in the face with his horns which upset them both.

Evsie's was pretty proud of herself for being such an active participant.

Last, but not least, we stopped at the carousel for a ride before heading out.  The girls were enamored with all of the animal choices.  Emma chose a frog and Everly chose a panda bear (according to her, but in real life she really chose a regular bear).

After, I zoomed way in, I caught a picture of Everly on her bear (she was hanging out with daddy while I was hanging out with Emma).

Happy girl!

After a couple of hours, we headed out extremely satisfied with the way we chose to spend our morning.

And our girl was incredibly happy that she picked a flower when we weren't looking ;).