We're Back!!!

WOW. What a crazy and AMAZING 2 weeks :) I've literally been counting down to the past 2 weeks for months. I can't believe its all over. Uhhh, I hate that part! Our trip to Arkansas was just perfect! Thanks to everyone that sent Good Traveling Vibes our way. Both the flights were easy. The kids slept the majority of the almost 3 hour flights. We also had to drive 5 hours to Fayetteville from Dallas and the drives were surprisingly great too. They actually went pretty fast. I did spend most of the drive in the back seat with Kallen (Raya was back there too) He really doesn't like the carseat. Luckily, the only time it was terrible was the last 2 hours of our drive there. So all in all I'd consider it a huge success! It was sooooo great to see my good friends. Fayetteville was just like I remembered it. It was really great to be back. And I knew when I went back I'd either miss it terribly and want to move back, or be ok that I didn't live there...and I decided that it was great to visit and I didn't need to move back. It was the PERFECT place for College. And I love the town dearly, but I don't miss getting starred out everywhere we go. Lol. I forget how Not Mixed the South is. It's getting better, slowly but surely, but its got work to do. I will say about 80percent of the time we were treated great and strangers were very warm to us...but there were still those people that couldn't handle our family. I'm sure they hate the fact that my kids are so dang cute :) Hehe. And I will say that its not just like that in Fayetteville, that's just where I was this weekend and compared to where we live now I was reminded of what its like living in a more conservative town. And to be honest, it was like that when we lived there and despite that I still Loved living there. Send good thoughts that way because they are experiencing severe weather! Horrible flooding and tornado warnings and craziness. I hope everyone stays as dry and safe as possible!!!

But anyways, back to the trip. It was a much needed vacation and I wish we could've stayed longer. I really don't think I've gone out like that since I had babies. So needless to say I am still recovering. I really miss my best friend Jen, and it was so freakin good to spend the weekend with her. Me, her and Jodie had FUN. Lol. I was so sad to leave. I hate that its so expensive to fly to Fayetteville because we'd do that a couple times a year for sure. But either way, we pinky swore we'd go to the Black Alumni Reunion/Weekend every time it was being held (which is every other year) I can't wait until April 2013!

After you graduate from The University of Arkansas your name is etched into "Senior Walk." I was SO EXCITED to see my name :) That's one of the coolest things ever. Ever! 

I have a bunch more pictures...these were just some of my favorite. The rest are in my facebook album: Arkansas Weekend

I have so much to blog about! Raya's 2nd BIRTHDAY!!! Easter. Kallen's newest accomplishments. Life. I gotta get on it! It's been a hectic 2 weeks. So sad they're over. I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things...can't wait to get all blogged up! (That's code for caught up on my blog ;)

Wedding Bells for a Bestie!

So one of my best and longest friends got married 2 weeks ago. It was such an amazing wedding. It was easy and fun and simple yet magical. It had such a great vibe and was filled with really great people. It was soooo great to be a part of such a special day for one of my very special friends. Cathleen and I have been friends since the 4th grade. So she really had no choice when it came to having me in her wedding ;) I mean if she's gonna have her sisters, well I guess I'm a shoe in. LOL! I'm kidding (kinda.) And Raya was a flower girl. Cathleen and I kept talking about how surreal this sentence was (Said by Cathleen): "Your DAUGHTER is in my WEDDING!" We just couldn't get over that we were really at this place in our lives. How did this all happen?!?! I really can't get over what a special weekend it was.

Fam time before the Rehearsal 

Her wedding was at The Horizon Hotel in Palm Springs. We packed up and drove down, or over, or whatever, to Palm Springs Friday afternoon so we could be there for the evening rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Wellll. The hotel had a beautiful pool. With balls. Raya's 2 favorite things. And she couldn't touch either. So that was the beginning of one of the most stressful nights ever. Haha. I held Kallen through the whole rehearsal, which was totally fine. Babies are so easy at 2 months cause they just sleep :) Raya was off running wild. Like WIIIIIIIIIIILD. By about 7 she was exhausted and super fussy because she was beyond tired and beyond frustrated. Poor kid. Gentry took her for a drive and she was passed out within 5 minutes. And lucky for us it was perfect "leave your kid in the car" weather. Calm down. The car was parked literally right next to us. AND Gentry left his phone on in the car in her lap and called mine and I left mine on speaker so it was basically a baby monitor. Man we're smart parents. As soon as Gentry got back Cathleen and I called my Mom and BEGGED her to come to Palm Springs and baby sit. Really, it was the first time being a Mom that I truly and seriously needed extra help and I couldn't take No for an answer. So my mom came :) And after Raya's flower girl part was all done she whisked her off and they went back to the hotel to do Nana-Raya things like climbing tables in the hotel room and, Nana's newest teaching: "Surprise!" Yah, my Mom taught Raya how to Surprise me. That's a really awesome game when theres a 3 month old sleeping on the couch and your 23month old keeps popping up in the kitchen. And bathroom. And living room. Yelling "SURPRISE" every time. Thanks Mom.

On a side note Raya was a perfect flower girl. I was so stressed about whether she'd really walk down the aisle. I was sure she wouldn't, but when the time came, she held the other flower girl's hand and they walked down sooooo sweetly. Only annoying thing: the wedding coordinator forgot to send the flower girls down!!!! Uh. So she sent them down after they announced Mr and Mrs. Simmons. Either way the flower girls were so stinkin cute!

And Raya's dress! My Dad made that :) It was soooo perfect. I had an idea what I wanted in my head and this seriously was exactly what I pictured, fabric and all. Too good!!! I didn't get any of just Raya in the dress at the wedding. Here are some before I did her hair.

It's so stinkin cute!!!! AND I couldn't leave it at that, so my Dad has his hat maker friend make Gentry a matching bowtie and then I made myself a headband and Gentry a pocket square. I wanted Kallen to wear grey pants and a white shirt so I could make him a matching Tie, but no joke we spent like 4 HOURS trying to find pants and a shirt for him. In those 4 hours I found 75,000 cute girl things. Uhhhhh. Shopping for girls is so fun :) The night before we left Gentry found the green Polo at TJ Maxx and it matched our stuff perfectly.

We had a really great time at the wedding. I didn't get to dance :( It got pretty chilly and we had Kallen. BUT I didn't get to sit and chat with my good friend Steph and her husband Danny. Stephanie is another one of my long time girlfriends that I love dearly, so it was soooo great to catch up and Danny and Gentry finally got to meet.

Congrats to Tyler and Cathleen Simmons! Thanks for letting me be part of your Big Day. It was absolutely perfect. Love you guys!
Ps- As soon as the photographers put their pictures up I'll share the link. The pictures are going to be AHHHmazing!

The Simple Things

Found Simple as that through one of my blog friends: Sweet 'n' Sassy. On Sunday she has a weekly photo challenge: capture an image each week of the simple things in life that make you smile...the little things and little moments that make you happy... Thought it was a very sweet idea, especially because I just so happen to get one of the sweetest pictures yet of the kids-holding hand!  It was gloomy all morning but in the afternoon the sun came out and we took a walk along the beach. Right after we got them all strapped in Raya reached over for Kallen's hand. I didn't think my camera was on, but clearly it was :) And I gotta good one! 
Perfect weather, perfect walk, perfect company :) Such a simple afternoon that made me so happy!

Raya's such a sweet big sister :)

2 Under 2

I can't believe I only have 22 days left to write the "2 Under 2" posts. Raya will be 2 on April 22nd. GEEZE!!! So I thought I better do some posts while I still have 2 babies under 2 :)

They're still as cute as can be together. Raya is still loving having him around. Sometimes she gets so excited she can hardly stand it. She does this thing my brother use to do. I don't really know how to explain it. Its like she gets filled with excitement and kinda clinches her teeth and smiles and gets super close to him and rubs her nose on his face. It's like shes going to burst. Its pretty funny. I'll try to get it on video. And they're still at the perfect ages for super cute pictures together. It's hard to think that one day they're not going to want to take pictures together. Actually, that might not happen. For the most part my brother and I always liked taking pictures together. Here's some from the past weeks that just melt my heart.

This is the first picture I have of the 2 of them both smiling 

Raya- Super Excited; Kallen- a little alarmed

A little Sunday morning dancing

I LOOOOOOVE this one. I ordered a coffee mug with this picture. My first "Mom" coffee mug with my TWO kids!

Sooooo excited about matching clothes. Here's their first set-Matching Jammies from Nana

She adores him <3

Raya is thankful for little brothers with hair.

I don't even have to tell her to kiss him :) She's loves lovin on him

Such a good big Sis...and Kallen's such a trooper

I also did some Comparison photos. I found one of Raya when she was almost 3 months, so I put Kallen on his belly hoping I could a similar shot. This is what I ended up with:

I think they have some similar features. Their eyebrows and foreheads are basically the same. They have similar shaped eyes, even though Kallen's look a little bigger. Similar chin/cheek shape, Kallen's are a little plumper, lol. I still don't know if I'd look at this picture and think they are siblings. I really think Raya looks like my baby picture and Kallen looks like Gentry's baby picture. So of course I did some more Comparisons :)

I think they have the same smile, same dimples (which is weird cause I swore he got those from me) Surprisingly they don't have the same nose-well at least in this picture. One of the first things I thought when I first saw Kallen was that he had Gentry's nose. Maybe he does...it just doesn't look like it to me. 

So I didn't ever really think Raya looked like me. And then I started looking for a baby picture to put next to mine and I couldn't believe how much we do look alike! Yah! I think We have the same head shape, same jaw line. She definitely has my mouth and smile. We don't have the same nose. Our eyes are pretty similar. I think she has my mom's eyes though. I definitely have my dad's eyes, so we'll see how that works out. But I was so surprised by how many pictures I found of her that look so similar to this one of me. Yet my dad and Raya's dad look sooooo different. Lol. Guess my genes won this kid ;) Every since she was born I'd always look at her and think she looked so much like Gentry, especially when they were asleep. It's funny how these pictures of the 2 of us are so similar. I'm glad I have at least one baby that looks like me. Haha. Cause Kallen doesn't seem to have a single feature like me. Maybe that'll change as he grows....

I'm kinda obsessed with the comparison pictures, if you can't tell. Don't worry, I'm sure there will be more. Hehe.
TGIF!