A Weekend With Dad

I am the luckiest girl! I got to spend a last weekend in New Orleans with these girls,



our friend Tracey and my sister.

I love that city, it was my fourth visit and I never get tired of it. We spent some time in the Garden District, ate a fancy lunch at Commander's Palace and walked around the French Quarter. All the while, Dan was home getting some one on two time with our sweet girls who, despite my elation about my alone time, I missed like crazy. I kept begging him to text me photos and videos. I'll share some of them here so you can see what a weekend with Daddy is like.

So while I shared with him pictures like this,



he would send me sweet shots like this. Quite a contrast, huh!?





I was sad to miss Russian Christmas this year while I was away, but I thought of the kids as we passed by the nativity scene at the St. Louis Cathedral. I sent this picture to Sofia since she has such a fascination with baby Jesus and the nativity. Notice on the face of the church the shadow that is cast from a statue of Jesus in the courtyard. Our tour guide called it a Before and After scene of Jesus. I thought it was pretty cool.



Dan sent me pictures from Grandma's house of Sofia wearing Aunt Mac's red hat,



and video of her playing with a new Christmas present from the Henkes.



and video of Ana being Ana... crazy.



I sent them video of the street music on Bourbon Street. (Turn down your volume; it's kind of loud.)



It was also a big football weekend so they laid around in their pjs watching the game,





and Sofia got her puppy ready for the Dog Show



before heading out to the park.



They're so sweet - all three of them. We sure are lucky we have such a great daddy! I know they probably had even more fun than I did with these girls - and that's saying a lot.





But it's true what they say... "distance makes the heart grow fonder," ...I came back loving my kids even more than I did before. Thanks, Daddy!

Happy New Year

It is 2012. I can hardly believe it.

2011 was a whirlwind. I could barely catch my breath! But things around here are settling down.

Sofia settled into school well. She is four now and already counting the days down until she's five. We keep reminding her to enjoy four.





Ana has settled into her own as well. We can hardly believe she will be ONE in just a few short weeks. She is still full of smiles and laughs. She's started to stand on her own and she's picking up on the sign language for "milk" and "all done." She can clap and blow kisses but still has only two little bottom teeth.





Dan and I have settled down too. Now that Sofia is in school our nights are spent quietly in the home, eating dinner as a family and enjoying our routines. We've succumbed to the truth that the home just won't always look perfect and that these kids sometimes get the best of us but we're really, really happy so it's ok.

It's my earnest hope to keep this blog updated so we have our memories logged. These are precious and important years and I want our girls to be able to look back and know how much they are loved.

One year ago, 2011. This was our first family portrait; taken the day Ana came into our lives.



And here are the most recent family portraits from November. What a difference a year makes - what a fun time!

Ana Mercedes Coussirat, seven months

It seems a lifetime since I've updated this blog regularly. Actually, quite literally a lifetime - Ana's. I've posted a few pics here and there but I've really neglected updating and I feel terribly guilty for it.

Sweet Crazy Ana has added so much joy and laughter to our lives and I've failed to mark it all down. So, let me tell you a bit of what I know about this girl.

1. She's crazy.

This may not be a fair statement since I have no photographic or video proof but I swear it's true. She's crazy and we love it. She will be perfectly calm one minute and the next she's screaming and grunting and flailing like a crazy baby. She loves life - that is for sure!

2. She loves to laugh. And anyone can make her smile.





3. Her tongue is always sticking out.



4. She loves her Big Sis - she spends entire car rides with her head raised so she can lean over and see Sofia.



5. She's positively precious.





My sweet Ana Banana - Ana B.,
Your big Sis started school last week and I now have the joy of spending quality alone time with you. I am so happy to have some uninterrupted hours of the day to focus on you. You're getting so big so fast and I just want to enjoy this fleeting time of your life. I so love holding you tight in my arms - you are a cuddly thing - kissing your cheeks a million times and making you laugh. You are such a sweet baby and your mommy and daddy love you oh so much!

And for the rest of us reading this I promise more pictures and better updates! Love, Angie

Ana B

I don't have much time these days for blogging but I had just enough time right now to show you what a happy little baby our Ana B is. (Ana B. is short for Ana Banana. She is also called Baby A quite a bit.) She's four months old now, weighs 13 pounds and is 24 inches long.

Anyway, we're happy she's happy. Things are going well and we love her so!

Dan's Birthday Weekend and Galveston

Dan turned 39 this year. Can you believe a man who thinks that a sock monkey with a precariously placed tail is worth taking a photo of can possibly be on the brink of turning 40?



Well, it's true. And I gathered all his friends to meet us downtown at our old stomping grounds for a surprise celebration. And he was indeed surprised. It was a wonderful time and I think he was touched with how many people came. People from different times of his life and people who traveled from other cities just to wish him well. It was really, really fun. And he really, really deserved a fun night to celebrate!



We had a great time. And Emi came in with a surprise for Sofia - Matthew! Sofia was so surprised that she was literally speechless. But they had a great time. Unfortunately, I somehow managed to not get a single photo of the two of them.

The next day, after everyone left, Dan spontaneously decided we should spend a night in Galveston. So we did. We stayed at the Harbor House right on the bay. It was so nice to be together, just the four of us.

We relaxed in the hotel room,





walked along the Strand,



and ate dinner outside right on the bay.



The next morning after getting ready



we walked to Sunflower Bakery for breakfast.



On the way we strolled down Postoffice Street,



and went right past the house where Dan and I lived for the first three years of our marriage. It brought back so many memories.



Here you can see our house with the ANICO building, where I worked so miserably, in the background.



We haven't really been back to Galveston since Hurricane Ike came through in 2008 and the most noticeable changes were how clean everything looked since being put back together and the lack of trees. We remembered Postoffice Street being lined with big, old trees. And now there are mostly small new trees or old stumps. It was still a beautiful walk. The old houses really look great for having survived so much over the past 100 plus years. I liked this one.



After breakfast we went back to the hotel, packed up



and headed to the beach. Luckily for me a storm was blowing in so the beach trip was short. Galveston beaches have not changed - they're still full of seaweed and brown water. But Sofia didn't care. She and Dad had fun playing in the sand.



And Ana enjoyed her first trip to the beach. I promised her we'd show her a better beach trip this summer.



It was a wonderful short trip to Galveston. It will be nice to go back again soon.

Lunch With a Three Year Old

I had lunch with Sofia today. Ana was at Grandma's house so Dan and I could get a much needed night of uninterrupted sleep. Of course, for Grandma she slept from 11:15 straight to 6:15 but whatever, I won't hold it against her!

Anyway, Sofia and I had an unusual moment alone and over pizza and bananas (and wearing pjs and a sun hat) she told me some interesting stories.



One about when she was cooking and her pot fell off the edge and broke on the floor into "a million pieces," and then she "never cooked again," but that was okay because she bought another one. She told that story with occasional glances over to the dutch oven that was sitting on our stove top.

Then she told me about how she was going to grow up and she'd be one, and two, and I'm already three, then four, then five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eweven, twelve, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen and twenty! (She has a penchant for leaving out the odd numbers.) I told her I couldn't believe it but that yes, one day she'd be 20 years old. And I told her that when she was 20 she'd be such a big girl that she'd probably live all by herself. And the sweet thing got a sad face and said in a scared voice, "But I might need your help!"



I promised her that one day I'd remind her of that and I vowed that Daddy and I would be there, always, to help her. It was so sweet how concerned she was. And I was reminded just how much she relies on us for her comfort and confidence. She's in that sweet stage where she randomly blurts out that she loves us and gives us kisses and hugs at the spur of the moment. She's so sweet and I love her so much. I don't ever want to forget these days!