Little Epps Drama!!

Taylor has always been pretty dramatic when it came to boo-boos, but we never really got a good idea of how Addison was going to be.  We quickly found this out over the last 36 hours!

Taylor fell at the park yesterday with Janessa and apparently it was a normal/dramatic event for a little scrape on her knee.  She got all upset at the park, and even limped around the house with us last night.  This morning, she was still super dramatic and didn't even want to go to the park with Mommy today.  However, we believe in pushing through this pain and trying to "toughen" her up a bit, so the girls and I still went to the park despite the resistance.  Taylor limped around the park, and even held her capri pants high so that they wouldn't touch her boo-boo.  It was quite entertaining to watch.

Taylor without her capri pants so that they wouldn't hurt her boo-boo

Unfortunately, we got to see how Addison handles pain because at the park, she fell off the picnic table and landed right on her face on the concrete.  She bumped her head, got a big scrape on her nose, and a few on her hand.   It was actually very scary for me, and she did get upset for about 5 minutes, but then was absolutely fine.  She kept pointing to the ground and saying "Addie fall, boo-boo." But overall, Addison was pretty tough!

Addie's big scrape on her nose!

The girls and I also saw a 4ft long snake swimming along the creek at the park! They were very excited about the snake, although I did not let them get too close (I can be pretty dramatic myself)!!

Lately....

Here's a quick update on what the girls have been doing lately (Taylor is 3 1/2 years old & Addison is 21 months old):

• We think Addison may be a "lefty" because she is always using her left hand to eat.
• Taylor and Janessa were talking about Jesus being in her heart. Janessa touched her heart and told Taylor "yes", and Taylor responded "Jesus in my boobie??"
• Addie and Taylor love to sing "Old McDonald had a farm."  Taylor will sing it to Addie and then will let Addie pick the animal that was on the farm.  It is pretty entertaining to watch.  Even funnier when we ask Addie what a certain animal says, her response is always "moomoo."  She apparently thinks every animal sounds like a cow!  We have a great video on our website of Taylor reading to Addie.  www.imageevent.com/jessicalynn01
• Taylor always counts the steps as she walks down the stairs.  Addie has really caught on to the numbers.  Taylor will say "5...6..7..." and Addison will finish with "8...9...10!"  She may be crazy smart, right!!??!!!  I even got a video of her counting on our website. 
• The girls are almost on an identical schedule.  Taylor goes down 30 minutes after Addie, at 8:30pm.  But they will both wake up within MINUTES of each other in the morning and after naps. 
• Addison has been saying a lot more 2-3 word phrases lately and talking up a storm.  Such as:  "Puppy poo poo."  "Where Daddy go?" "Oh no Mommy!"  "I see you Nenna (Nessa)" "Look at me Taylor"
• Since Nanny & Papa take Taylor and Addie to Chuck E. Cheese on EVERY SINGLE VISIT, Addie has become obsessed with saying "Chuck E. Cheese Nanny Papa."  All in one long sentence!
• Taylor and Addie have a very different pain tolerance.  For example, Taylor scraped her knee yesterday and has still been whining about it for the last 24 hours.  Addison fell on her head on the concerte at lunch, scraped her nose, fingers, and has a huge knot on her head, and cried for about 5 minutes!
• We took Taylor to see her first Broadway Musical this past week, Mary Poppins!  She absolutely loved it!  She would put her hand on her mouth and gasp when someone did something shocking, or would laugh out loud when something funny was said.  It was so sweet, she literally just smiled the entire time.  On the way home, she kept singing "just a spoon full of sugar..."

On our way to see Mary Poppins

This girl loves to be naked!  She will run around saying "I na-ed, I na-ed"

Austin Weekend

Jason and I went to Austin for a long weekend to meet up with our marriage counselor and 8 other couples that have seen him over the last few years.  It was sort of like a "marriage retreat" type weekend with lots of fun things to do!!

We came into Austin a day early to enjoy the city and celebrate Lindsay's birthday!  She picked out a super cute boutique type hotel for us to stay at Thursday night called The Heywood Hotel.

Our room at The Heywood Hotel

We went to a cool outdoor restaurant to eat on Thursday night for Lindsay's birthday.  It was a place called Contigo and was owned by a former Aggie.  The food was okay, but the atmosphere was super cool!  It was also fun to catch up with some girls that we went to college with, Sarah & Leah.

Enjoying our night out in Austin!

Celebrating with the birthday girl!

Leah & Sarah

Group picture at Contigo

On Friday, we started the morning off with a long run in downtown Austin along the water, then went to eat at the South Congress Cafe for breakfast.  We had the best carrot cake french toast ever!  Then, headed to Barton Springs which is a very popular swimming hole that is spring fed and has a natural rock and gravel bottom.  It was too cold for us oldies to get into the water, but we happily watched the crazy college kids freeze!

Barton Springs

Crazy TU students

Friday night, our marriage weekend adventure officially started.  We had a small group session with Eddie and Judy, met the other 8 couples, and then headed out to a local Brewery called Hops & Grain. 

Hops & Grain Brewery

The beer tasting area

Eddie & Judy

We had so much fun with this group here!!  Mark, Linz, Eddie, Judy, Laura & Klint!!!

Saturday, we had a session in the morning then had lots of free time so we hung out and went shopping with the Masts & Warners.  That night, we had another session, then went to eat at one of Eddie's friends who had the most amazing outdoor kitchen that we had ever seen!  

One of the outdoor sitting areas

Not the best picture of the outdoor kitchen, but it was AMAZING!

We had a great weekend away!  We really enjoyed hanging out with Lindsay, Mark, Laura & Klint, and also being around Eddie & Judy.  We have seen Eddie personally save and help so many marriages that it is hard not to be blessed just being around him!  We are anxious to spend another weekend with him some point in the near future again!

All the couples that attended the Austin weekend getaway

Easter Weekend

We had a fun Easter weekend with the girls!  We started Saturday morning off by dying Easter eggs.  We bought a "spill proof" Easter egg kit that wasn't so "spill proof!"  Thanks Walmart!

Checking out her eggs soaking

Shake those things up!

Early morning picture!

Always smiling! 

This was before she threw an egg on the floor (not totally intentional)

Spill proof??!!!!??

Colored Easter eggs!!!

Saturday night, we went to the Sutton's house to celebrate Erik's birthday!  Got this cute picture of Addie riding in the car with Maddox, she is so adventurous!

Let the good times roll!

Sunday morning, we woke up to some goodies from the Easter Bunny!  The girls were very excited about their Build A Bear closet that holds a lot of baby clothes.  The Bunny didn't even bring this gift, it was handed down to the girls from our friend Cathy, but it was more fun to give on Easter morning!

Checking out all the goodies!

Very excited

Loved the princess dresses

All week long, we've really tried to teach the girls the REAL reason why we celebrate Easter.  The Bunny is a fun tradition, but we really emphasized to the girls that Easter is about Jesus dying on the cross for us so that our sins would be forgiven and we could all go to Heaven with Him one day.  I think that Taylor really got it because after church, she ran out in her precious Easter dress saying "Jesus is alive!  Jesus is alive!!"

For Easter dinner, we had the Dorey and Mast families over for a traditional Easter dinner.  We ate and then had the kids find all 82 eggs that were hidden in the backyard.  Taylor was running all over the place like a mad woman!  We saw a little competitive side of her that I'm sure made Jason very proud!

They are old enough to sit at the kids table!!!

All the kiddos before the Easter egg hunt

Running right at the eggs

Walker had NO interest in the Easter eggs

Which egg to choose?

Got it!

The Dorey family

Look at all those eggs

Mommy and her girls

Addison and McKenna scoping out the egg situation

The Mast family

The fun part - dumping out your eggs and eating the candy!

Happy Easter!!!

Easter Pictures

We had our yearly Easter pictures taken this year outside with a new photographer, Katie Cole!  The weather was gorgeous and the girls did great! 

Our favorite picture from the session

Oh my!  Sassiness!

While Taylor loved the "real" bunny, Addison was NOT a fan!

She wanted the bunny in every picture!

Beautiful Easter dresses from Nanny!

Love her spunk!

Happy Easter!!!!

Happy Birthday Walker!

The girls and I went to Fayetteville today to celebrate Walker's 1st birthday!  Lindsay isn't obsessed with birthday parties like yours truly, so we decided to bring a party to them!  The girls were so excited on the way to Fayetteville!  They were practicing singing "happy birthday" to Walker.  Addie kept saying "happy birday Walkie!"  We all just adore that kid!

We brought a party of Chick Fil A lunch, presents and Ricks birthday cupcakes!  Between Walker running all over the place and the girls getting into all his toys, I could only capture one group picture of the 3 of them:

I think that is Tex trotting in front of the camera

Taylor helped Walker open his birthday presents

Addie giving hugs to Walker

She did not intentionally match outfits today

Eating the wrapping paper

Taylor loved playing Walker's new harmonica

We then had some cupcakes which made the girls super happy!

Walker trying the cupcake

Singing to Walker while Linz is trying to keep him from touching the candle

He loved the chocolate cupcake but wasn't crazy for the icing

I feel like I have several pictures of these kids in dog beds!

It was super fun for us to be able to spend time with Lindsay and Walker!  The Epps girls love birthdays so we were happy to bring a party to the Mast household on a Friday morning!

On the way home, the girls were talking about Walker.  Addie kept saying "Bye Walkie, bye bye!"  When we got home, Taylor told me that she wanted a baby in her tummy.  Haha, she must have thought about that today because we were talking about Lindsay's 2nd baby on the way.  Too funny!

Happy 1st birthday Walker Boone!!!