Rowan's Eric Carle Birthday Party

While we were in Houston we attended Rowan's 2nd birthday party.  Courtney through a great Eric Carle themed birthday and the kids had such a great time just eating and playing.
 

 

I am pretty sure that the Dicke family might have every Eric Carle book ever published!  Some of these I had never even heard about.  We definitely need to expand Ella Kate's collection since she loves Brown Bear, Brown Bear so much.

It was a gorgeous day in Houston - actually rather warm for the 1st of December so we definitely took full advantage and spent the whole morning outside which my little monkey just loved.  She was so excited to see her Ro Ro and Eastie that this was probably the only time she left their sides and not surprisingly it was to eat. 

Brad and Courtney have the best playset at their house which EK loves so she played and played on that for as long as we would let her.  She also took full advantage of sharing the swing with Rowan and I don't think I have seen two kids so happy ever!

The very happy birthday boy with his family.

Happy birthday Rowan!  We love you

Zoo Lights

We took a little trip down to Houston last week since we had Keith's company Christmas party and Rowan's 2nd birthday party so we decided to head to the Houston Zoo to see Zoo Lights!

This was a great family event and I am so glad that we got to see it while we were in town.  We went on Friday night super early - 6:00 actually right when the zoo reopened for the event and I definitely recommend that if you plan to go before it is over.  This way not everyone has had time to make it home from work and back out to the zoo so it is not really crowded yet.  By the time we left at 7:45 things were really starting to pick up and the crowds had arrived.

Now if you are really hoping to see animals while you are at Zoo Lights, then you are going to be disappointed.  Unfortunately the only animals we could really see were the giraffe's and that is because they were right by the carousel and that area is very lit up.

 

No while you do not get to see real animals they do have lots of light displays with many of the animals that they have at the zoo... Lions

Fish

Elephants 

And Apes!

We even brought along two little monkeys of our own who actually posed for a picture in the face frame things...
 

 

 We couldn't get our 3rd monkey Easton to participate unfortunately.

 One thing that Ella Kate has loved every time we have gone to the zoo is the carousel so of course we had to take a quick ride on it.

The kids loved it as usual! 

 

 If you are in the Houston area and have time before New Year's to make it by Zoo Lights I would highly recommend it.  Great atmosphere and a great thing to do!

 

Thanksgiving 2012

As usual I am behind on posting so bare with me as I try and catch up!

For Thanksgiving this year it was my turn to host my family here in Tyler and it was so great to not have to do any traveling.  We started the week with Keith's parents stopping in on their way to Keith's brother's house in Lubbock and finished it with my parents, brother, SIL, and Austin arriving on Wednesday to spend the rest of the week here with us.  It was great to have so many family members in and out all week but boy were we all exhausted once everyone was gone!

We started our Thanksgiving off running the Turkey Trot, a 5K that a local gym holds in honor of the Boys and Girls Club.  I don't know what possessed me to decide that I wanted to run a 5K on Thanksgiving morning and how it is that people actually agreed to run it with me but it really was a great way to start off a Holiday of pure indulgence. 

I convinced my dad and SIL to run it with me and after training for 10 weeks, I finally can say that I have run a 5K.  Now it took me close to 36 minutes to complete but who cares... I ran a 5K!  Now I have no plans to do it again anytime soon but who knows maybe I will do it again one day.  I really enjoy running... but only during the months of September - November and March - May when its about 75-85 and pretty outside.

We had a great rest of Thanksgiving day which of course involved a huge lunch where all of us ate way too much but isn't that what you are supposed to do for Thanksgiving?

My two favorite munchkins in the world enjoyed lunch just as much as the rest of us and definitely needed naps after all of that food!

Friday after the ladies did there usual Black Friday shopping we decided to take the kids out to the park to run off all of that energy they always have.  After playing for about an hour I convince an almost 4 year old and a two year old that it would be a great idea to pose for pictures...

 

At first things didn't work out so well - mainly because they were fighting over who got to hold the big stick...

But eventually I got one to smile and one to at least look up even though she was too distracted by a lady with dogs to actually look at me.

I am sure I have mentioned it before but my mom is a Kindergarten teacher and well that really comes in handy when entertaining two little people.  Granny came very prepared to teach all about Thanksgiving and had plenty of crafts ready to go.  These two got to make Indian necklaces and headbands and even had an impromptu jamming session on some drums. 

 

See the perks of having a Kindergarten teacher as a mom... she is always prepared to entertain.  Though I think she needed to sleep for a week after entertaining for three days straight!

We ended every night that the family was here curling up on the couch and watching movies which the kids really loved.

They however did not enjoy that I tried to take pictures while they were doing this.  Oh well at least they are both in the picture. 

 It was great having the family here for a few days and can't wait to see everyone again... looks like we will try to head to Arkansas sometime in the Spring and take over my brother's house this time.

Fall Raking - A Rite of Childhood

I am pretty sure it is a requirement in your childhood that you spend at least one day every fall raking leaves in your yard.  That day for Ella Kate was this past weekend.

This is a perfect picture of how I feel about this day every year.  Though lets be honest, I just photographed the activity - never to pick up a rake during the event.

We also decided to throw in an improptu modeling session before we really got down to business!

Keith has a small shrub rake and Ella Kate thought it was perfectly made her for and did a great job raking up the leaves.  Though at first her idea of raking was to rake the leaves away from the piles Keith made.

My two favorite people hard at work! 

She even helped fill the bags with leaves.  We could regret this a little later in the week though when EK's allergies are killing her from spending all that time rolling around in the leaves - but hey at least we don't have to worry about her tonsils swelling up to the size of golf balls anymore. 

Surgery and Recovery

On November 1st Ella Kate had a tonsilectomy and adnoidectomy.  After our stay in the hospital in September both our pediatrician and ENT thought this would be the best way to avoid any problems in the future.  Keith and I quickly agreed (both he and his brother had this surgery when they were little) and surgery was set so at 5 am on 11/1/12 we reported to the hospital for the big day!

Ella Kate was great as we waited and waited to get called back for pre-op and as we waited some more to get taken back to surgery.  By the time they finally took her back at 7:20 she was so tired and delirious I think she would have done anything for those sleepy drugs!

We had Ella Kate's surgery done at Trinity Mother Frances and every nurse and physician that we came into contact with was just great and so caring!  When they took her back to surgery they let her take blankie and Minnie with her so that she would feel more comfortable when she woke up.  The staff on the pediatric floor even had the infamous pink car in her room when we got up there just to make her feel more at home.

It took EK quite a bit of time to recover from the anesthetic thanks to some sleepy time meds they had given her to relax before they wheeled her back but once those wore off she was ready to tear up a few popsicles!  As Ella was so young (only 2 years 2 months) our ENT felt more comfortable having her stay overnight in the hospital to keep her hydrated and help to get meds in her a little easier.  I think this really helped though I wish they would have given those meds through the IV she had in her.  Might have helped a little with the medicine drama we had upon returning home! 

This is how we recover at casa de Underwood.  It requires Minnie ears and heels (see I told you she loved those things) and walking around with that stroller - well at least for the first 3 days (days 4-8 were brutal)!

Granny and Papi came for the weekend after her surgery and they were such a huge help.  With my mom being a kindergarten teacher she was full of activities and fun things for Ella Kate to do to keep her mind off of the pain.   

Ella had a blast making pasta pumpkins, sorting alphabet blocks, and playing I Spy with a huge I Spy mat my mom found.  Unfortunately after Granny and Papi left on Monday things deteriorated a little bit and as I mentioned above days 4-8 were pretty rough on the little patient but we have survived and are thankful the recovery is behind us!

Now we hope that we can stay out of the doctor's office through the winter... 

Halloween 2012

It definitely wasn't hard to decide what Ella Kate was going to be for Halloween this year!  My child is beyond obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so Minnie Mouse was an easy decision - plus I already had the ears thanks to an impromptu gift from Granny during one of her visits.

I ordered the costume from Disney.com and since I had to wait until the last minute to order to make sure we wouldn't be homebound from tonsil surgery I got a great deal on it and even decided to splurge for the fancy yellow high heels!  EK loved her costume and we have worn those high heels on at least 20 occassions since and if we aren't wearing them they are usually close by just in case.

I have to say that this was probably the first time that I have gotten EK to stand and pose!  It was great to actually get pictures of her where she was looking!

We had a short go at trick or treating and had a visit from our favorite people The Clemmons (though Brandon's costume scared the pants off of EK and she refused to go outside after she saw him).  Ella Kate was having surgery the next day so we kept it low key in order to get her in bed at a decent time thanks to our 4 am wake up call!

I decided this year that we finally needed to get a little festive outside of our house and put something on our porch so I did a little search on pinterest and found these beauties

Source: redesigningwomen.wordpress.com via Tracy on Pinterest

I have to say that I was impressed by my rendition of them (seen above).  Maybe I am not completely incompetent when it comes to DIY projects... hmm what can I do next??

Pumpkin Carving

I know I am almost two weeks late on our Halloween posts but we have spent the last 10 days recuperating from Ella Kate's tonsilectomy and adnoidectomy.  I think we have finally recovered as EK finally seems to be herself again.  Well at least we can hope we are all back to normal... I couldn't take anymore of EK's recovery!

The Sunday before Halloween we went over to our friend's house to carve up the pumpkins we got at Moore Farms and roast pumpkin seeds!

We tried to get the girls involved in the pumpkin carving but that only lasted until we got the top off the pumpkin and away they went after that to play.

 

This was the best picture I could get of the kids.  I give myself credit as they are all at least looking at the camera.  It was pitch black outside by the time we finished so all they could see was the flash of cameras!

Our finished products... we went the classic route while everyone else got all fancy on us!  I defnitely think we will be making this an annual tradition.  Though next year their might have to be some chili and The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown involved!