33

Psychologist, Donna Dawson: “The age of 33 is enough time to have shaken off childhood naivety without losing the energy and enthusiasm of youth. By 33 innocence has been lost, but our sense of reality is mixed with a strong sense of hope, and a belief in our own talents and abilities. We have yet to develop the cynicism and weariness that comes with later years.”

Cheers to that, and cheers to the beginning of a great year for me!

I worked on the 28th (my pretend bday, since it is not a leap year).
Chris worked too, and apparently so did Mamaw and my girls!
They surprised me with this delicious homemade birthday cookie cake when I got home!

I walked in the door and they yelled out "surprise!"

I love this sweet picture!
Ryan loved helping Pa light the candles.

Ryan and Emma singing to me was the best part!

Friday, March 1 Chris and I spent the day together for my birthday.
We took the girls to school, ran 5 miles together (with Murph), then we headed to Dallas
to hit a few of our favorite spots for lunch and beers. We had a great day together.

Happy Birthday Beergarita, and a handsome husband!
Life is good!

Cowtown Half Marathon 2013

Another half marathon in the books!  This one was tough.  There was a hill at the 9th mile that was BRUTAL!  I am so proud of us for training again and doing this race.  Thanks to my dad for watching the girls early on Sunday mornings so Chris and I could do our long training runs and thanks to Gran for keeping the girls while we ran our race.  This makes 3 half marathons for me in the past 11 months.  Not too bad considering how sick I was 2 years ago. It feels great to be healthy!

Thank goodness it's washable!

We will miss Aunt Rocks and Unc Unc!

We had Aunt Rocks and Uncle over for dinner before they move to Austin.  We are all sad that they will be further away from us, but we know that we can and will visit them often.  At least we will get to visit some of our favorite people in my favorite city!



Unc Unc is such a good sport!





Aunt Rocks brought dessert and whip cream!

Chocolate cupcakes!



Then, we had a dance party!



Uncle has some sweet dance moves!

We love them so much!

Sunday Naps

Sunday afternoons if you stop by the Ivie house it is almost guaranteed that we are all sound asleep!  Sunday mornings Chris and I usually get up early and do our long runs and then we all go to church.  After we eat lunch we all lay down and rest as a family!  It is heavenly!  I usually wake up first.  Sometimes I get pictures of my sweet, snoring family.

Emma and Zeebee

Ryan, Bunny and Daddy in the background.

Mamaw Mountain

Mamaw is such a good sport!

Prayers

Ryan is really into her nightly prayers.  I so enjoy listening to her talk to God.  She does it so thoughtful and so sweet.  She starts her prayers the same way every night with "Dear God, thank you for this lovely day." After having lunch with Ryan at her school and hearing Mrs. Harris say the prayer before they eat I know where she got the first part from.  :-)

Copy Cat

Emma and Ryan have reached an age where they have an absolute blast together!  It is so fun to watch.  They giggle and run around and act so silly together.  Ryan is the leader usually (like she prefers) and sweet Emma is so excited to do anything with Ryan!  She copies EVERYTHING Ryan does: dance moves, yoga moves, requests for food, if Ryan has her shoes on, if Ryan throws a fit..... The list goes on and on.  Whatever Ryan is doing Emma wants to do it too.  Ryan is starting to really appreciate that she has an automatic playmate in her sister.  They enjoy playing dolls and babies together and they especially like to play chase and hide and seek.  When we drop them off at school Ryan always waves goodbye to Emma at the doorway and in the afternoon when we go to get Emma she is so happy to see her Pie Pie.  She always says "Mommy!" first, and then "Hi Pie Pie!"  Recently they started embracing each other at the doorway.  It melts every one's hearts, especially mine.  I am so glad that they have each other.  

Squeaky clean in their matching nightgowns.

Taking turns jumping off the bed.

Tickle time.

We told the girls to say goodnight to each other.

Big embrace.

Valentines Day Delivery

We decided to deliver all of the gifts that Emma collected on Valentines Day. We had a wagon full of toys, clothes, books, and electronics to deliver to the Parkland Burn Unit for all of the children with burn injuries.  Along with our giving, the girls were thrilled to ride the train and Chris was excited to eat Anderson's BBQ afterwards!  Here are the pics from our day!  Thanks again to all of Emma's friends and family for ALL that was donated!

Emma did not like being contained while waiting on the train!

Our wagon full of goodies!

Daddy on the train.

Ryan thrilled to be on the train again!

Pea Pie thrilled because Ryan is!

Ryan hugging Percy and telling him she missed him so much.

Happy Munch!

At the Burn Unit Playroom, dropping off everything.

Headed out of Parkland in style.
Bringing the wagon was the best idea I had!

Happy Valentines Day to Daddy!

"Cheese!"

Love my Sweet Pea!
Glad we were able to give to others.

After we made it home from Dallas we all took a nice, long afternoon nap.  When we woke up the girls got to enjoy their Valentines gifts from us.

Bed head!

Emma got a set of animal stamps!

The weather was so nice, so we moved outside to stamp!

Ryan got a jewelry box to paint and decorate.

She worked hard on it.

Admiring her art work.

Beautiful!

Mamaw hand painted little watercolors for the girls.
So sweet! They are now framed in their rooms.

Hope your day was full of love like ours was.
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!