January 2019

We had some more fun in between our visitors.  

We went camping at Whitney Lake State Park over the MLK holiday.  It was very, very cold.  The girls slept in our sleeping bags at night and we had a heater in the tent.  They are getting to be pretty hard core campers.  The afternoons were a bit warmer, so we went hiking and cooked by the camp fire. 

Beautiful sunset at the state park.

I always want to remember her skip.

I made a batch of home-made yogurt.  It turned out perfect!

Vegas!

Bryan's parents drove to Texas to watch the girls for 5 days so we could attend an Optometry Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Doesn't Bryan look excited?

He went to continuing education classes while I toured the strip.  I haven't been to Vegas since college!

Look behind me!

All the hotels were decorated for Chinese New Year- the year of the pig.

In the evenings, we went to some shows.  We saw the Blue Man Group

 and Cirque du Soleil's The Beatles LOVE.  Both were fantastic!

Grandparents came to town!

January has been all sorts of exciting with Bryan's promotion and both sets of grandparents coming to visit.  My parents came at the beginning of the month.  Both girls were out of school for winter break and we were able to have lots of fun checking out the area.

 One of our first stops was Salado, Texas.  It's a cute little city with antique shops and a fun water feature.  

It got a little chilly in our house, so we used our wood fire place for the first time and the girls roasted marshmallows.  

 We played games at night when the girls were asleep.  Dad got really mad at Bryan once over a game called Cover Your Assets.

 We played at Urban Air (grandpa included).

 We traveled to Dallas to go to an indoor water park called Epic Water.  It was really cool and reminded us of a lot of the swimming pools in Europe.

We had to make a stop at Buccee's- the biggest gas stations in Texas.  It is more than just a gas station.  They make amazing fudge, BBQ, and beef jerky.  They also sell clothes, toys, kitchen ware.  It is amazing.  Just don't expect to go there with car trouble, they don't sell anything for that!

 Grandma reading to the girls.

 One of our last adventures was a trip to the zoo

 and the Sillos in Waco, Texas.  

Bryan's Major Promotion

My parents came out for Bryan's promotion at the beginning of the new year.  

It was a small party at the Thomas Moore Clinic during lunch hours so all available could attend.  Bryan took the week off while my parents were in town, which turned out to work well for all of us.  We had lots of help gathering the food, cake, party supplies, and children.

The cake was made by Lily's Cakes and it was huge! And perfect for a promotion party.  Little did I know, Lily is kind of famous.  She won one of the seasons of Cake Wars a while back.  Her little shop is right around the corner from our house.

Kate got a hold of my phone camera and took most of the pictures of the food venue and all the attendees. 

 Jane looks excited for the party! Or maybe the pay raise??

It was so special to see my dad, retired Colonel Koplin, pin Bryan into the rank of Major.  The pictures come from my mother's camera.  Sorry they are so blurry! I am not sure why we don't have family pictures or couple pictures.  Oh well.  It was an exciting day! I am so proud of my Major and Doctor.  I love you Bryan!

December 2018

The busiest time of the year, but also the most magical time of the year. 

 The girls enjoyed making gingerbread houses.

 We visited Santa Claus at BLORA's Nature in Lights.  We got there right when it opened and beat the crowd.  They have a cute little village with Santa (not impressed) and all these little boutique shops.  Santa was more worried about the football game on his cell phone than his actual job!

Kate lost both her front teeth for Christmas this year!  The last one came out as we were driving to church.  I love her little grin and whistle speech right now.  I also like how she turns her head we she eats because there is nothing to chomp the food with.

Making Kate look like Cindy-Lou Who from the Grinch Who Stole Christmas for one of the dress up days for school.  When I picked her up from school, poor thing said her head hurt.  I used a hard plastic cup underneath and felt pretty bad that she had it there for 8-9 hours! 

Kate is a believer.  Jane is just along for the ride.  If she can't see it, she doesn't believe it is real.  Dassie, our elf on the shelf, made her appearance this year.  Jane was pretty cute and said "She's just a doll Kate.  She can't see us when we are upstairs".  Kate was very worried that Jane would touch the elf and make her loose her magical powers.  She told me to tell Dassie to hide higher so Jane wouldn't touch her. 

Of course, MEDDAC decides to have a military ball during the busiest time of the year.  We had a good time at the ball.  I got my hair, nails, and make-up done.

Harker Heights had a 5K run called the Frosted Mug.  I was the first female finisher! At the very end, I was chasing a 7 year old to the finish line.  I couldn't believe how quick he was!

Bryan finished in second place while pushing the two girls in the stroller.  He is first place in my eyes.

The night before Christmas, we visited Santa Claus driving around the city with the fire department.  We met him at the high school because he wouldn't be driving around our neighborhood until 9:30 at night.  My kids had to go to bed much sooner than that. 

 Reading "T'was the Night Before Christmas" in their new princess jammies.

Christmas morning came really early this year.  I think 5:45 or 6:00!  They were so excited to open their present from each other.  Kate got Jane a Kit Kak bar and a mermaid pillow.  Jane got Kate a Frozen stamp kit. 

We got a lot of camping gear for Christmas.  We are really hoping to take the family camping more often, with all the cool state parks near by.

Jane got Bryan this singing cactus.  I thought it was hilarious!

My kids opening grandma and grandpa Koplin's Christmas present. 

Traditional Christmas cinnamon rolls.  They are so yummy.  This year I used sweet potato, instead of a regular potato.

A yummy Christmas dinner.  We even used our good China this year!

 I thought this was so cute.  The girls decorating grandma and grandpa's gift with all their Christmas loot.  Guns, markers, jewelry beads.  Haha!