Our first "Garden"!

 This weekend we started our first small attempt at gardening. Of course, we don't have a yard so a few potted plants on our balcony was the best we could do. Stella was so excited about it. She couldn't wait to put our new plants in their pots. On Saturday we went to a local farmer's market and bought two tomato plants and two basil plants. Then we went and got a few pots and a few petunias just for fun.

Here are Stella and Rayna decorating the pots before planting.

Stella was so excited about her new garden gloves. It is precious how serious and focused she was about it all. 
Here she is posing with her new tomato plant!

She was way too busy to have time to smile for the camera but I love how you can get a feel for how serious it all was to her. I think she may have gotten her Mimi's love for gardening. Now I just hope she got her green thumb too!

Last step... getting them all watered. I don't think I'll have any trouble remembering to water them. Stella can't wait to get back to work tomorrow! We'll keep you posted... 

Easter!

Spring is here! The flowers are blooming and there was a lot of Easter celebrating to be had on our trip to Louisiana. The weather was amazing and the girls enjoyed at least five different egg hunts. On our trip to Baton Rouge we stopped at our favorite rest stop, Granny & Papas' house.
Here are Stephen and the girls taking a break on the swing in the backyard. I remember swinging on this swing as a child and it is fun to watch my girls enjoy it too!

We spent a couple of hours in Granny & Papas' backyard hunting eggs, making flower necklaces, and enjoying the best Great Grandparents! Here is Stella watching Rayna find the eggs she "hid" for her little sister. You've gotta love the hands behind her back teacher stance.

The girls had so much fun picking flowers to make necklaces, bracelets, and rings. Papas had to teach Rayna how to pick them with the stems still attached. But she eventually got it!

Stephen got so many great shots of the girls. He got this one from a distance and she didn't even know he was taking a picture of her. They had such a great time with Granny and Papas.

This picture makes me tear up every time. I feel like it captures her so well. Always focused and taking in everything around her. The flower ring on her little finger just reminds me to take it all in. My sweet little girl is growing up so quickly.

Here they are on one of their many hunts! This one is at Gran & DD's house. Stephen tells me about the many adventures they had as kids on these very stairs and it looks like the tradition continues.

DD is such a great story teller. He must have read Goodnight Moon to Rayna a dozen times.

Uncle Paul read to Stella and Rayna too. As you can see, they thought he was very entertaining!

Look at this great Easter dessert Gran made. It was even better than it looks! And Stella enjoyed it as much as she was expecting to!

Can you see the extra "child" in the back of our stroller? It's Missy, Aunt Chris's dog! She had a great time strolling around the neighborhood with us. And of course the girls thought it was great too.

We love every chance we get to spend with our siblings. And getting to see them have fun with our girls makes it even better. Here is Rayna having a great time making faces with her Uncle Mark.

Here are the girls with Mimi in her Garden. I just love this picture. Mimi looks like a grandmother fairy walking around her garden with her little grandchildren by her side.

Here we are on Easter morning at our favorite church, Abiding Hope.

I love this picture. It captures Stella and Rayna's personalities really well: Stella smiling her sweet smile and Rayna being her silly self. Getting great pictures of them together is a lot of work but when we get one it is so much fun!

This picture makes me smile every time. Rayna's face is too funny looking at her big sister. I don't really know what Stella was saying but I love the sweet admiration in Ray's eyes.

Here is Mimi "hiding" eggs. I think the girls may have a little bit of an idea where to look :)

Here is our best attempt at getting all three Davis grandkids together. We love getting to spend time with Leo. It is great to watch them together. The girls had fun playing with him and his cars and trains! But eventually the cars and trains even become babies. I overheard Stella reminding Rayna to take her train to the potty if he need to go :)

We stayed in Baton Rouge for a couple of days after Stephen had to head back to Dallas. We went to check out the new park there. The weather was gorgeous and the park was so nice. It is surrounded by huge trees and has lots of neat playground equipment. Here we are at the Labyrinth. Mimi and I had a great time making our way around its path.

We ended our trip with our first crawfish boil of the season. The crawfish were big and delicious. Stella was a little worried about them pinching her at first. But once she realized they couldn't, she ate a lot of them. I was so proud of my Texas born girl showing off her cajun side!

Getting to spend time with our family was wonderful. It is always hard to leave but very worth the trip. We can't wait to come back soon. Love y'all...

Dallas Bluebonnets!

Remember these sweet babies? So much has changed since we were last in the bluebonnets. We have lived in Louisiana, Connecticut, and now back to Texas but now in Dallas. Life is just flying by...

And here they are today!

We went to take pictures in the bluebonnets last night. There don't seem to be as many around here as there were in Austin. But we found a great stretch of them close by our house. The girls were excited about the craziness of it all. Of course they are used to getting lots of pictures taken. But jumping out of the car and taking pictures with the flowers on the side of the road. That is a new one even for us, as far as they can remember!

Stella and I had been talking about going to take pictures in the bluebonnets all day and when we got there she was ready. She had so much fun sitting in the flowers and smiling for Dad.

Rayna was a little more skeptical about the whole thing. But I promised her a "pinch of chew" (aka a tiny piece of gum) and she was willing to sit for a minute.

She was much happier getting to walk around and explore!

Someone driving by honked. I guess it is the "Yeah, for taking pictures in the bluebonnnets!" honk. That got a great smile out of Rayna! There were people a little way down from us taking pictures of their 2 dogs in the bluebonnets. I guess everyone gets in on the bluebonnet fun!

Our 2 Year Old Girl!

Rayna had her 2 year well-check yesterday. She did so well! I guess between all of the books we read about going to the doctor and Stella and Rayna always giving their babies check-ups with their doctor kit is just isn't a big deal anymore. She let the doctor check her out with no trouble and even showed off a few of her many talents for him. I was so proud!

She is 28.3 lbs and about 35 inches (we got a few different measurements for height). So that makes her in the 70-75% for girls her age.
But we are always shining stars in the head department! She measured 19 3/4 inches and that is about the 97%!! No wonder she is so smart :)

I still can't believe she is 2! Stephen got this great picture of her when she woke up from her nap last weekend. I love that he got her with her cat. She sleeps with it everyday. You can just see the admiration in her eyes in the picture. She calls it her "baby cat". I never expected her to attach to a certain toy but attach she has! At least we have 2 of them just in case we ever lose one.

Keep up the good work our sweet girl. We love you so...

We can't wait to see you all this weekend!!

Easter Egg Hunt at the Dallas Arboretum

We went to the Dallas Arboretum today for their annual Easter Breakfast and Hunt. We all had a great time together enjoying the Easter fun and beautiful blooms everywhere! Here is Stella at the breakfast very excited about the hunt to come.

Do you recognize the bunny?

I love this! It is just before the egg hunt started. You can see all of the tiny eggs all over the field behind Stella. I love that her expression is full of anticipation and excitement. She couldn't wait to get started.

More getting ready for the big event.

Of course, the pictures of the actual hunt are very action type shots. Stella was just squealing and running around. When it got started it took her about a minute to focus and actually start picking up eggs because she was just so excited. It wouldn't have really mattered because it only took her a minute or so except for the fact that, despite there being tons of eggs the hunt only lasted about 5 minutes :). But she still got plenty of eggs!

Rayna got right to work picking up as many eggs as she could get to!

Our beautiful spring chicks. They just blended right in with all the blooming flowers.

The girls love the little play houses they have at the arboretum. This one is their favorite because there is a gate they can open and shut and this cute little bench.

Sweet sisters. One of my favorite things in life is seeing my girls happy together. I pray that their life will be so full of moments like this together.

The girls loved the Toad fountains!

Many thinks to our tireless photographer! I had to get him in at least one shot :)