nine and counting

Alex and I celebrated our nine-year anniversary earlier this week. Naturally, I'm starting to plan our ten-year anniversary getaway (attention grandparents: babysitting volunteers are now being accepted). But before that, there's this--a rare family portrait taken before Alex and I left for dinner on Tuesday. It's funny to see how far we've come in nine years. If I had thought of it before, I would have insisted on a picture of us every year on our anniversary to see how things change. Since I don't have visual evidence, this is my idea of how our pictures would have looked from years one to eight (taken before we went out to celebrate):

1. Alex and me standing in front of the fireplace in our barely-furnished new home in Charlotte, NC.
2. Alex and me standing in front of the fireplace in our more furnished home in Charlotte.
3. Alex and me standing in the dining room--we switched it up because I wanted to show off the new ghost chairs--in our home in Charlotte. I'm wondering if I look fat because I'm ten weeks (or so) pregnant with Catcher.
4. Alex, baby Catcher (6 months) and me standing in his nursery.
5. Alex, Catcher (18 months) and me sitting on the sofa in our house. I'm wearing a black empire-waist dress to hide my bloated belly because I'm ten weeks (or so) pregnant with Scout.
6. Alex, Catcher (2), Scout (6 months) and me hanging out on the sofa in our house that is now on the market.
7. Alex, Catcher (3), Scout (18 months), and a very pregnant (8 months, to be exact) me at our apartment in Austin, TX. Alex is now sporting glasses after he failed his eye exam at the DPS.
8. Alex, Catcher (4), Scout (2) and baby Tillie (11 months) sitting on the sofa in our house in Austin...pretty similar to the picture below, actually.

going to the ball

I have a feeling there are going to be a lot (a lot!) of dress-up princess photos in my future. This afternoon Catcher went over to his friend's house while the girls stayed home and got "ready for the ball" (Scout's words...obviously). Tillie wasn't into the tiaras and tutus so much, but she threw a royal fit when Scout tried to swipe her pink polka dot mules.

P.S. I'm not sure how the tribal mask fit into the whole "ball" scenario...maybe they were getting ready for a masquerade ball...

museum day

Today was another cold--and add to that rainy--day in Austin. I shouldn't complain about a 40 degree day when half of the United States is suffering from the Polar Vortex, but I was really hoping for one of those margarita day afternoons upon my return to Texas. All moping aside, it was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of our new membership and shuffle the little crazies back to the Thinkery. Despite the dreary day, the museum was surprisingly not crowded (phew!). The girls spent most of their time firing rockets and testing wind resistance while Catcher worked on circuit boards and painted with wax. Being a kid is pretty fun.

the last day of winter break

Yesterday was our last day of winter break, and it truly felt like winter (a real one, not a Texas one) in Austin. Scout put on her pajamas and the girls pretended to nap in their room before watching an afternoon movie. The family voted, and Annie was the hands-down winner. Catcher fought it at first, but by the end of the movie he was singing Tomorrow louder than anyone.

ice princess

After sitting on the plane in Baltimore for an hour yesterday while they dragged us from the icy grips of the gate to the tarmac for de-icing, we finally made it home to Austin where (surprise!) a cold front has moved into town. While we sheltered ourselves from the cold in Virginia, I had dreams of returning to a sunny Texas afternoon. My daydreams involved playgrounds and margaritas, but alas we found ourselves back in the confines of our home after the cold wind whipped through us upon landing in Austin.

The little ones didn't seem to mind being stuck inside, however, since we left for our trip on Christmas day. In our wake was a pile of new toys dying to be played with upon our return. Scout made a beeline for the dress-up bin and became our ice princess for the day. I have a feeling we have many princess days ahead of us. I know this because Scout told me yesterday that she's not Scout, she's princess Sofia (and then refused to answer to the name Scout). And then she wore a tutu to the Target today...at least I convinced her to take off the plastic jeweled mules before we left the house.

monkeys making bread

The little monkeys made monkey bread with their grandma today. While we missed the giant storm Hercules--or it missed us--the temperature hovered around 15 degrees, so there was no playing outside in our two inches of snow. To keep the busybodies busy, baking was the perfect indoor activity for this cold winter day.

"The monkey bread was a hit. The kids thought it was awesome," as reported by Catcher.

tillie's first snow

On the third stop of our Virginia-Maryland grand winter tour, Tillie experienced her first snow this afternoon (which also happened to be the first snow that Catcher and Scout remember since the last time they saw snow in person was when they were 2 1/2 and 6 months respectively). They celebrated with tongues sticking out in the air and talk of snowball fights and snow angels. After clearing up the confusion over whether it was raining snow or simply snowing, the little ones frolicked and played the eskimo way. Here is our ode to snow: