First Christmas

Christmas was in California this year. The mantle was full with all of our stockings. Hamee got one too this year. 😍

Santa went a little overboard, but the kids had fun.

I think Eloise enjoyed the ornaments on the tree more than her presents. She kept pulling them off and bringing them to us. Unfortunately, no pictures of the crime.

Tietze Park

It was an unusually warm Saturday, and it was going to drop 50 degrees in a matter of hours. Had to get the kids out of the house before that happened, so took them to our neighborhood park.

Quick DC trip

Auntie Julie agreed to house-sit for us, so Eloise and I took a quick trip back to DC to clean up the house. Finished cleaning in time to make it to Friendsgiving 2016:

The food was amazing as usual. Eloise especially enjoyed the sweet potato and the mashed potato.

On the flight back, she got bored of waiting for the flight to take off and started reading the safety instructions:

This one is becoming a travel warrior just like her sister.

Baby bears graduate

Eloise just graduated from her Baby Bears class at the Baylor Tom Landry Fitness Center. Although, she loves the water just was much as her sister, she seemed happy to graduate. I think because her teachers makes them do duck dives. She doesn't like that too much. I wish I had a video of it, but I'm also too engrossed to think about taking one.

Here's her "I'm happy to be done" grin:

And a picture of my two fishes chilling out after their classes. 

Scenes from EDDC

The Perot museum

Dallas has an awesome museum for kids (and adults) called the Perot Museum. It's all about things related to the earth (animals, weather, dinosaurs, drilling...). On the bottom floor, is a hands-on area for kids. While Matilda was playing in the water feature, Eloise was having fun playing with blocks and climbing up and down the slide.

She can now climb stairs too. Need to keep an extra close eye on her these days. 

Michigan vs. Ohio State

Went to Carl's friend's house (Bill Tuel) to watch the Michigan vs. Ohio State game. It was a nail biter, but the girls didn't seem phased at all by all of the yelling.

Eloise even managed to make it on top of table right under our noses. Nobody even saw her do it. 

11 months!

Eloise is 11 months old! Time is flying. She's standing a lot a although still not without support. But she's proud of her progress. 

Sisters

Finally getting it right!

Cool Art

Stopped at the Dallas Museum of Art for a moment and didn't make it past this cool hands-on area for kids. Eloise had fun in the window seat. I think she likes red.

Hamee and Habee visit Dallas

We're terribly behind again on the blog. Hamee and Habee finally came for a visit Halloween weekend. On Saturday, we took them to the Fort Worth Stockyards, where we saw lots of meat being smoked and really really big longhorns.

Eloise was more fascinated with Habee's hat than with the longhorns though.

She is starting to come into her own and has become super feisty. Even Habee can't contain her. 

She wasn't too pleased either about being Wonder Women's little minion.

But a stroll outside with her friends helped her mood. 

Cool Thursday Concert at the Dallas Arboretum

Did our first concert at the Arboretum. Nobody, and I mean nobody should attempt trying to pull off Michael Jackson. We made the mistake of picking the night when a Michael Jackson cover band was performing. We didn't really have a choice though, cause by the time the weather was ok enough for the kids, it was the last event already.

Eloise didn't seem to mind the awful attempt though. (Neither did anyone else there, by the way.) She enjoyed being outside and climbing on the cooler.

It was still cool to see the Arboretum lit up at night. Can't wait for the Christmas lights.

10 Months!

Eloise turned 10 months today! Crazy how fast she's growing up. She's quickly becoming a talker like her sister, although she mainly just says "Omma" and "ManhMoh" with an occasional "Appa" thrown in. She now has 4 teeth on the top and 2 on the bottom. The two top left ones took forever to come in but finally broke through.

She's also starting to pull herself up to stand. Not looking forward to when she starts walking. The house is not baby-proofed for that. It'll be coming soon.

Eloise at the zoo

Spent the morning at the Fort Worth Zoo. It's not bad for a small, local zoo. If only it were free, like the National Zoo.

Eloise is at the age where she actually sees the animals and wants to interact with them. She loves the zoo just like her sister. The fishes were her favorite.

And she liked the penguins too.

She didn't quite get the elephants though.

Not quite cruising

Eloise can pull herself up. This morning, she got herself up under the table using the bench and a chair.

But she's not quite crusing yet, and she started getting upset about being trapped.

The cruising may be coming soon...