May I Take Your Order?

While in Lake Geneva, we found a really cool toy store.
Lily and Sophia each got to choose one thing.
This is what they chose...

Sophia loved her doll, but we all loved seeing Lily in her choice.

For the remainder of the evening, she served all of her uncles their beverages of choice.

Lily gave them excellent service.

Like any great waitress, she also let them know that she happily accepted tips.

And was even willing to split them 80/20 with her little helper, Sophia.

Lake Geneva

In the midst of moving from Arkansas to Texas, we took a small break.
We had to in order to keep our sanity.
Heat+Moving Boxes+Pregnancy= A family who needs a vacation.

So we dug through the heap of boxes and found a couple of empty suitcases and flew to Chicago for a week.
One stop we knew we had to make was to Lake Geneva.
The girls wanted a picnic on a beach and to play in the water (no matter how cold it might be).
So that's just what we gave them.
See how happy it made them...

While Joe and I set the picnic up, the girls went about digging and building in the sand...

I wasn't sure how Sophia would feel about having the sand in her toes.
The last time we were here, she spent her time sitting with Joe on the safety of the beach blanket.
This time she loved it.
I even caught her dumping sand on herself.
Boy the difference two years makes...

So busy...

Our time at Lake Geneva was limited.
We had other plans for later in the evening.
But the girls had plenty of time to eat, play and swim.
Lily even got to try her hand at "fishing".
(i.e. scooping up a floating fish in the water)...

Dinner anyone?

Town Square

The Town Square is rapidly turning into one of our favorite destinations on Saturday nights.
What's not to love?

They have fun, family focused entertainment for free.
There are many restaurants to choose from to grab a quick bite to eat before the entertainment begins.
Most importantly, there's ice cream.
All of these items in conjunction with one another add up to one perfect result.
Happy kids...

And what can be better than that?

Pool Day

I am quickly learning that Texas summers require trips to the pool.
At least a trip a day if you want to stay cool, happy and sane.
Lucky for me, my girls love the pool...

Is it Fall yet?

The Tiny Surprise

Life sometimes has a funny way of sneaking up on you and shouting "SURPRISE!"
You can plan and plan and plan, but real life has no interest in the planning you may do.
Life happens when life wants to happen.

For close to two years, Joe and I tried to turn our family of four into a family of five.
I knew with my history, we had to set about this goal sooner, rather than later.
So we tried.

We went to numerous doctor appointments.
I was pricked and poked so that tests could be done.
And still, month after month, that little test kept coming back negative.

The tests I took gave me some insight as to why conceiving was so difficult.
My doctor informed me that I was in early ovarian failure.
She was quite surprised that at only 32 years of age this was already happening.

We weren't sure what to do next.
My doctor suggested going to see a specialist.
Joe and I agreed that seeing a specialist was not something we wanted to do.
We were extremely blessed to have two happy, healthy little girls.
We wanted this to happen if it was going to be easy.
A specialist seemed hard.

So life continued on for us.
Great things were happening for the Murphy family.
Joe finally got the big promotion he so deserved.
The girls were in school doing very well and loving every moment of it.

We were in the process of moving to a new state.
I had many bins of baby clothing that I did not want to pack and store at a new house.
I had loads of maternity clothes.
I even had baby necessities like a pack and play, crib mattress and rocking toys.

Most of it I sold.
Many other items I donated to Goodwill.
It was sad to let go of some of the items, but after almost two years of trying, I had to accept the inevitable.

This is where that silly little thing called "Life" enters the picture.

Not but five days after selling and donating every last bit of my baby necessities, we got some news.
It appeared that the Murphy family wasn't done growing.
We still had one more major project in the works...

The news didn't come two years earlier.

But it came.

And to me, that's all that matters. 

Shady Lady

It's important to look cool no matter where you go...

Even if it is only at the dentist office.

Bust A Move

A Saturday night in downtown Sugar Land, Texas gave us a little Latin flair.
The girl's loved the sounds and boogied all night.
Ours boogied a little more than the others.

If you have ever watched Seinfeld, the name Eileen may come to mind.
Watch and you will see why...

It almost hurt watching her dance, but she had no shame and had quite a bit of fun.

That's all that matters when it comes to dancing, after all.