Princess girls

Georgia has discovered Kate's passion for anything priness related. ANYTHING. So the girls changed princess outfits numerous times last night and had a ball! My brother John and his wife Amanda drove in this weekend to celebrate Christmas with us. Everyone came over to my house for dinner last night (the King Ranch casserole from Market Street was super yummy!) and we are going to my mom's house today for a Bindel Christmas. Here is Kate & Mary Clare with their cousins Georgia, Caroline and Sarah Jane crawling in the playroom. The only cousin missing from this picture is Elizabeth, but I bet we get more pictures of her today. Merry Christmas!

It's a first for us both

Kate and I put together our first gingerbread house. This is the first time we have done it together, and unless my memory has failed me, this is the first time I recall ever putting one together myself. I look forward to carrying on this tradition for years to come. Once Mary Clare gets older we'll start our own gingerbread tradition with her as well.

Merry Christmas Photo Shoot

There is a new photographer in town that I happen to know through my sister in law Carlye. Every year for the past three years we have had our Christmas pictures taken in the park with our favorite photographer DeEdra, but this year I wanted something different. Rachel Archer of Rachel Photography gave me more than just "different". Her Christmas photo session just took my breath away! Here are just some of the fun and beautiful pics she took of my precious pretties.

Merry Christmas!

There is no excuse.......

Other than the fact that I have been super-duper-Wonder-Woman-busy. For Real. That and my computer is not retrieving my pics from the cartridge on my camera so that is why there are no pics. I SINCERELY APOLOGIZE! Here is the DL...........so, Laura, one of my dearest most bestest sweetest friends from high school had twins the day of Kate and Mary Clare's parade (my last post). Welcome to the world Quinn & Gentry!

Then it was Halloween, and in the midst of Christmas Magic market during the first weekend of November I planned a surprise birthday dinner for Tim. My sweet friend Lauren and I were busy planning and coordinating Christmas Magic Auction the following weekend and we spent a lot of time up at the Wellington. ALOT. Our (me & Tim) truly kick-ass friends Chuck and Theresa drove up from Fort Worth for Auction (we raised over $35,000! woo-hoo!) and even though I enjoyed every minute of it, I am SO glad it is OVER.. You would have thought that I would have spent the day in bed after auction but NO - Tim and I invited out friends Jaclyn & Jason up to Norman to watch the A&M and OU game. We had an excellent time with our friends despite the terrible, horrible, no good very bad game.

What happened after that? OUR precious pretty Kate turned 4. FOUR! So it was a birthday weekend marathon with birthday breakfast with Luke, Elizabeth and Sarah Pitts that morning, a shipping trip to Toys R Us, hair cut and a manicure with cousin Georgia, and the stage performance of Snow White with Kate's best friends Kateri and Presley. You got it - I was worn out. HOWEVER I wanted to keep my family in tact Thanksgiving and so that meant a road trip for the girls and I to College Station for the A&M vs Future BCS Champions UT (and I don't mean Tennessee). It also meant a Black Friday shopping spree in College Station with Theresa (the kick-ass friend I mentioned before) and her children's au pair Lindsey. Sigh of relief November is over but now a deeper breath for December. I am trying to stay calm amidst the chaos of the season now that we are in December but I think we all know that we are all fooling ourselves. SO - Tim is off hunting with his friends and I have the girls Christmas portraits tomorrow, and then having a mom's day with Sarah and Beth. This next weekend is my company Christmas party and my 6th annual Dallas Christmas Shopping Excursion with Sarah next weekend. Top it off with my brother John and his wife and girls coming in from Austin the following weekend. They have never been here with their girls during the Christmas so I am just so stoked they are coming! SO, once I get the cartridge figured out I will post pics. Let me just remind you that although we are all running around like crazy trying to get our ducks in a row for Christmas parties, etc.....Let us NOT FORGET that JESUS is the REASON for the SEASON!

Halloween Pics

Happy Kitty. Until she realized that she had to stay in the buggy until the parade was over.

Mad Kitty.

Kateri, Brett & Kate in the parade.


I call my mom buddy Kim here "Super Mom". She is so creative and so..well SUPER!
Paxson (on the left) is in class with Mary Clare, and Parker and Kate have been friends since they were teeny toddlers!

Supermodel/Beauty Queen Carolyn (my cousin) with her handsome boys Luke & Corbin.

This is my friend Jaclyn with her shirtless pirate Bryant. "Bear" is smitten with his little kitten Mary Clare. She's crazy about him too!

She would not sit still for the application of whiskers. Meow.

Bewitched!
Kateri, Grayson, & Kate

I have been pretty getting everything together for Christmas Magic Auction next Friday, church/bible studies, Kate's dance, play dates, getting things together for Tim & Kate's birthdays and everything else we have going on. We have gone to a Sesame Street show, and we went to Christmas Magic this morning for the girls to make Christmas ornaments and see Santa. See Santa??!?!?!?!?! It's only November 7th (Tim's birthday btw) and Santa Claus is here!!!!!!! The holidays are here! YEAH!

New to Us Set of Wheels

Do you remember how you felt when you got your first bike? I was so excited when I got mine, and I was so proud of it. I still remember by daddy teaching me how to ride it when he took off my training wheels - running behind pushing me - letting go - yelling at me to keep my balance and yet I still fell. He would then rush over to me, brush off the dirt, and we would start again. Just a phase in childhood that everyone can relate to.....Everyone has their own bike story.

this is the beginning of Kate's bike story. Mine didn't start when I was three, but Kate's story has! Her cousin Hannah passed down her Barbie bicycle that she had outgrown and it had been sitting in our garage for about six weeks before Kate and Tim finally went to Academy to buy some training wheels. Tim finally put the training wheels on it, and you would have thought that Tim took her to DisneyWorld. She was so excited!!! Here is Kate standing with her bike once the training wheels were on.
Two weeks ago we had some BEAUTIFUL weather, so the girls and I went outside to enjoy it. Here Mary Clare's shoe is getting put back on so she can enjoy the outdoors!

Kate likes to practice riding her bike in the driveway. She is great at pedaling, but not so great at stopping. She accidentally ran over Mary Clare about 20 seconds after I took this picture.

Kate following her daddy and sissy down the sidewalk. I know she isn't wearing her helmet, but we only let her ride to the driveway next door and back.

Mary Clare in her "new" set of wheels. Santa actually brought this for Kate her 2nd Christmas, and it has gotten lots of good use by Kate, MC, and all 0f the other friends that come over to play!

Dancing Queens

Wow - today started off great. can you believe that my girls - MY GIRLS - slept in until 8:15? That is believable with Mary Clare, but now with Kate. She doesn't want to miss a thing so she wakes up when the sun does. SO after breakfast we had pajama dance party. Any of you that know my oldest daughter knows that she loves to dance... And now she loves to dance while singing to Taylor Swift. The first time Kate heard Taylor she was with her cousin Hannah - who is 7 - and Kate came home singing the the chorus of You Belong With Me. She now knows 95% of the words. Do I have a future Taylor Swift on my hands? Only God knows!

Kate singing and dancing to Taylor Swift's song Love Story, or as she refers it to as Romeo & Juliet.

Mary Clare doing her best dance imitation of her big sister.

Both of the girls rocking out.

Last day of September

The Foley family went to one of our favorite places to shop together - Home Depot! The girls love the race car cart, and ooohing and ahhing over the different things Home Depot has on display. Tim had to go to get some stuff for work, and I went because I wanted to spruce up my courtyard with some fall colors....and mainly because I am starting Dave Ramsey's Money Makeover tomorrow since it is October 1st, and I know buying flowers is not in the all new budget! Kate helped me pick out some red and orange crysthanthe.....well just mums and I also got some yellow flowers that are not mums to put in my front pots. We potted them in the dark (it was only 7:20) and from what I could tell they looked great! I hope they look as good as I think they do in the morning when I see it in day light!
Speaking of the race car carts - I wish they had carts like at all stores!! It keeps the girls happy, and I can get in and out with what I need in likity split. That makes mama very happy! Our favorite grocery store United Market Street - or the blue store as Kate calls it - has car carts, however the car part that they ride in is on the ground and a thirty minute trip to the store turns into and hour and a half because the girls keep getting in and out. So - my vote is for the race car carts at every store!!! Happy fall and wish me good luck with my new and improved budget! If only I had bought some pumpkins tonight!!!

How Great Thou Art

I had the most fun last night. Some girlfriends and I went over How Great Thou Art - a little art studio on Brook Street - for a Ladies Night Art Class. The subject of the night was a pear, and Rachel Liles the owner gave us step by step instructions on what to do. There were about twenty women there in all, and it was so neat to see the different pears that were made. Kathleen left before I could get a pic of her pear, but hers looked great as well. Rachel is having a a class next Friday night so I higly encourage you to go if you have never been. I promise it is a wonderful experience! I am already signed up for the butterfly class in October!

Here is my pear masterpiece

Beth's Pear

Sarah's pear

Rainy weekends don't slow us down!

It rained a lot last weekend. A lot! You could pretty much sum up the weekend as gloomy, chilly and wet. But that didn't slow down the Foley family! We were on our toes all weekend!

We started off our weekend of fun going to the Rider football game with Carlye and the girls. The girls watched the game for a little bit (more like a few minutes) and the rest of the night they spent playing, dancing, running up and down the sidewalk, and catching/chasing grasshoppers.

Here is a picture of Georgia and Kate waiting for the guys to run out on the field after halftime.

Here is one of Mary Clare's still moments where she actually stopped to watch the game.

This is where Kate caught a grasshopper and was showing it off. He was trying to get away which made Kate and Georgia hysterically laugh.

K & G's grasshopper finally flew away (bless his heart) but Kate stopped the police officer to see where he-as in the grasshopper-went....Pretty sure she asked the cop to go find him.

Then Saturday morning we headed out to birthday party #1 for Kate's sweet friend Presley at Jump for Joy. Kate and her friends crawl up the ladder to go down the slide!

Parker waits at the top for his buddy Kate. Kate and Parker have grown up together at School For Little People. His family blog is on my list.

I had to leave Kate at the party by herself while Mary Clare and I ran to a baby shower down the road. Mary Clare got a little upset because she did not want to leave because she was having so much fun on the slide and pink car!

We ended Saturday with yet another baby shower and birthday party for Kate's other good friend Jaidyn at Gymnastics Sport Center. Sunday evening we went to pick up the Bindel girls and headed out to the Riddle Farm Autism Rocks Fall Festival. The proceeds from the Fall Festival supports the Applied Behaviorial Analysis program for autistic children at Christ Academy. It was pretty muddy from all the rain, but we still had a blast. Ribs Inc cooked some awesome ribs for the adults, and the kids got to play on Tumblebus.

Students from Midwestern State's College of Education came out and had a tent of activites for the kids.

Kate got her fingernails painted, and she had them out to dry while she got a section of her hair braided and beaded.

Those of you who know Mary Clare know that she does not like big dogs. Little ones like beagles are ok, but anything bigger than that terrifies her. That is why I posted this picture is because #1 she has ahuge smile on her face and #2....

She actually pets the dog! That is a first for her to do without big gator tears coming down her cheeks! Yeah Mary Clare!

So needless to say we were ALL ready to go to bed this past Sunday night. We are looking forward to this weekend as well because the girls and I are planning spending some time with the Boatner family! Good times to be had!

I forgot to mention that I have set a goal for myself to lose 10 pounds a month. I have already lost 6 pounds so far, and we are half way through the month! Woo-Hoo!

New sites that I LOVE!!

Here are two sites that I just added to my blog list because I LOVE them!

http://www.tipjunkie.com/

Tips on organizing, decorating, entertaining, you name it! Plus you can shop as well!


http://www.tomkatstudio.blogspot.com/

This super creative mommy of Tommy and Kate has some precious ideas for invitations, DIY crafty stuff, birthday parties, and decorating as well! Don't be surprised if you see those lollipop sticks popping up at the Foley's house soon for a birthday we have coming up! AND I want to use her DIY lollipop invites for Mary Clare's birthday next year. I can't believe I am already excited about that!

Seriously.......Where has the time gone?

I pulled up my blog this morning and was shocked to see that it has been over a month since my last post. Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Where has all of the time gone? It made me sit back and reflect on how fast the time is passing, and how much my precious pretties have grown right before my eyes. The girls and I did a lot of traveling together this summer - staying busy with Auntie M's (Tim's sister Mary) wedding festivities. Here is a picture of some snuggle time we had together in San Antonio in July. We have never all slept in a bed together - until now, and I miss it!



here is a pic of my precious niece Caroline. The girls and I went and stayed with the Bindel's in Austin for a couple of days in July this summer.....and I am just now posting some of them. Caroline and Kate were able to attend VBS this summer together at Caroline's church for a couple of days. This is a picture of Caroline on her first day of VBS.

And here is a pic of Kate on her first day. I guess Kate remembered how mommy gets dressed up to go to church, so she wanted to dress up for Caroline's church. They were both excited that they wore dresses with strawberries on it!

So, after three trips to San Antonio (3 for me,2 for the girls), and trip to Austin, and a trip to the Bahamas for Auntie M's wedding, we are now ready for Fall! Both girls are at School for Little People, and Mary Clare has actually come home with two Parent/Child homework assignments (she is 18 months old!) Kate will be in dance again, and I am contemplating on whether or not she will play soccer in the Spring. I will be busy this fall co-chairing the JLWF Christmas Magic Auction in November with my super sweet friend Lauren, and keeping up with the girls, and keeping up with Tim and his Texas A&M Football weekends. We'll have more weddings, baby showers, and birthday parties this fall as well that will keep us on our toes, but we are so blessed to be involved in all of these celebrations of life. God's generous giving deserves thankful living. What a generous, thoughtful God we serve! Let's praise Him for the countless blessings that overflow in our lives.

Give me a spirit of thankfulness, Lord,

For numberless blessings given;

Blessings that daily come to me

Like dewdrops falling from heaven. —Dawe

More pics to come of our trip to the Bahamas, Mary's wedding reception in San Antonio, and Kate & MC's first "official" day at SLP!

Annie Kate's 1st Appointment at Dental Works

Last week we had Kate's first dentist appointment. I unintentionally prepared her by watching the Deggards on TLC> They are the family that has 18 children and they all went to the dentist on one epispode. Kate watched with amazement, and frequently asked questions throughout the show. She sat in the chair, had Jill put the bib on her, leaned back, grabbed the arm rest and opened her mouth wide. It was all Jill and I could do to stifle a laugh!

Here she is holding her cell phone. She said that she was "texting" her friends.
We also took x-rays, and Dr. Pitts came in to tell Kate she was cavity free! 10 teeth on top and 10 teeth on the bottom all checked out good, although we will be making appointments to an orthodontist in a few years!

VBS @ FUMC

Kate on her first day of VBS at FUMC. Since she attends School for Little People at FUMC, the children enrolled there for the summer program ages 4 & up were able to attend VBS. KAte and a coup0le of her friends aren't 4 yet, but they will be in the 4K class in the Fall so they got to attend as well. She has loved every minute of it, and I can't wait to go with her today to for the last day.

The theme for the VBS was Camping. They turned the pillars in the atrium into trees by wrapping them in paper, added some Christmas trees, tents, rafts, and boy did it look great!

The turned the Atrium at FUMC into a campers dream! Check out that huge screen! Kate told me that they watched a Veggie Tales movie, and she asked when she could go watch another movie at school. She's spoiled with the big screen now!

More decorations

Water Fun inthe Summer Time

Iowa Park has this fabulous little splash park for toddlers. For $2.50 per person you can not beat it! The kids have a blast and the moms get nice tan. We'll be enjoying this place a lot more this summer!
Don't ask. All I can say is that she is really excited.

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Having some splash time fun!

Waiting onher friend Hayden to come down the slide. We went with our neighbors Laura & Hayden. I don't know who was more tired - Laura and I from chasing the three of them and making sure they didn't drown or the kids. My vote says the mamas.

Which way do I go? Which way do I go? Spray or dino slide?

Kate was in heaven at this place. She eventually wanted to go to the big pool to swim with the big kids, but ended her day back at the splash park so she could be a "big kid".

Climbing up the stairs of the dino slide again. This girl wasn't scared!

This is one very tired baby girl with a mohawk that did not require any hair products.