Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day Weekend we went to my parents ranch in Ozona, Texas. We had not all been down there as a family in a really long time. It had been before kids for us, so this was our kids first time to experience "The Ranch" as we call it. My Dad has put a lot of time and effort to build this place up. As a late birthday present to him the whole Tate Clan drove there. It is not big enough for all of us to stay there(most places aren't), so we stayed in a hotel. The nephews and some of the brother in laws stayed at the ranch while the rest of us stayed at the hotel. Kate and Laci playing together.

Carly loved the bubbles!

Carly enjoyed four wheeling, too.

We got to eat lots of yummy food like nachos and hot dogs. It is too bad those foods aren't good for you. As you can see Carly sure did enjoy it!

Growing up my sister Lori always braided and french braided our hair. I never quite mastered this gift. Kate and Aubrey were thrilled for Aunt Lori to braid their hair. Kate was so proud of it afterwards. It made her seem so old to me. I guess I need to learn from my sister since I am going to  have three girls!

I love it!

Don't worry they were just playing on the four wheeler, not riding on it.

The girls enjoyed just playing and digging in the sand outside the ranch.

While we were there it just did not get very hot, but it still did not stop the children from wanting to swim. Zack and I went swimming the first night there and it was FREEZING! It seriously took my breath away. I tried to swim some laps to warm up and it just did not happen. Carly enjoyed splashing on the side.

It felt oh so nice just to sit out and sun bathe.

Close to our hotel there was a very fun playground. There were some features at this playground that you just don't see anymore, like a see saw. I don't think  it would have passed all safety features, but the kids loved it!

Papa, Isabelle and Breanne enjoying some time on the couch after breakfast.

 One of the biggest perks for the kids while we were there was the four wheeling. Zack took the liberty of taking a lot of the kids around, which he loved! Kate and Carly, but especially Kate loved four wheeling as you can see.

Another playground picture!

We had a great time just hanging out at the ranch. It was just fun to have all the Tate cousins together. They even entertained themselves just running around the ranch doing laps.

On our last night there we ate some yummy chicken fried steak at a restaurant by the hotel. Our family is so big they had to call in some back up workers!

The girls relaxing with their Daddy at the hotel. We still have not mastered sleeping in a hotel with our girls. We got the suite so that there would be some separation between our two areas, but it did not seem to help much. The girls would get so silly together. They did not fall asleep till after 10:00 pm both nights that we were there. They are going to have to get used to this since they will be sharing a room very soon!

It was fun to just splash in the pool instead of freezing inside it!

Carly giving Ryleigh a kiss.

Mom, Dad and all the Tate cousins.

My new favorite picture of Kate and Aubrey. I am so glad Kamara was able to capture it!

If you know Carly you are familiar with this face. That is her shy face and I just want to stay with Mommy.

Kate, Isabelle and Aubrey. These girls are growing up!

This table brings back so many memories. My parents would take this table every time we went camping growing up, which was often. It was neat to now see the next generation sitting and eating lunch on it.

Inside the ranch hanging out.

The Dining Area

The front of the Ranch with Dad.

Carly and Aubrey hanging out by the pool.

Mom and Dad eating some dessert at the restaurant.

Kamara, me and Keari

Michael, Rod and Zack

A Girl Cannot Live Without Her.....

This girl cannot live without her purse! Carly loves this red heart shaped purse. She asks for it the minute she gets up and takes it with her everywhere throughout the day.

When she is eating

When she is playing in the playroom

When she is playing with her friends outside

When she is at Chuck E. Cheese

When she is playing with Mommy's phone. This girl always has her red purse with her! So what is in this very important purse? Well, it is always changing. Right now she has a bracelet and a game card from Memory in it.

Kate loves her purses, too. However, her purse is always changing. They love their "stuff" as they call it. I love to see what both of them have in their purses. It is so many different odds and ends from around the house. Kate has her purse to the side so you can't completely see it. Doesn't she look so big in this picture?

We are having a......

In case you have not heard Zack and I are having our third girl! We found out a couple of weeks ago. We had felt all along that we would probably have three girls. It is crazy that in the Tate family this will make the eighth girl in a row! Zack is a great Daddy to little girls, so God decided to bless us with another one. She looked healthy on the sonogram and even looked like she might be sucking her thumb. I guess time will tell as far as that goes. My amniotic fluid was a little low so we will have another sonogram at 27 weeks. My doctor did not seem too concerned about that though. I have to admit that there was a little part of us that was hoping we might have a boy, but we are very happy and just thrilled to have a healthy baby. Kate was emphatic that she wanted another sister. She did a little happy dance when we told her that it was going to be a girl. I grew up with four sisters, so I look forward to seeing our three girls grow up together. Sisters are such a blessing and I am so happy that my girls will experience the joy of that. Yes, I know that will include some drama along the way, too. Zack will just have to have his getaways from all the girl hormones, right? Good thing he has regular hunting trips and the Big Bend with his buddies every year. I have also reminded Zack that girls can hunt and camp just like boys. We will continue to keep you posted, but we are thrilled to announce that we are having another girl. Now if we can just come up with a name.....

April

One thing that we did in April was go to the Safari Park in Plano. Luckily, we had a Groupon so it was pretty inexpensive. This was our first time here and we had a lot of fun. The girls both really enjoyed it. My only complaint was it was a little hard watching both girls at the same time because we went when Zack was a work. They both liked to try out the different options there. Luckily, everything is pretty close together, so it make it a little easier managing them both.

They have mechanical animals that the kids can ride, which Kate loved. Carly felt more safe watching from the sidelines.

Every child loves the cars that they can ride and put a coin in!

Kate and Carly loved filling up Easter eggs for Kate's school.

Kate loved taking part in the Easter Egg Hunt with her school friends. Here she is with her sweet friend Olivia.

They gave the kids an amount of eggs that they could get, so that really helped. Kate was not as assertive as some kids, so it was good that everybody got the same amount.

Kate and her sweet friend Bethany.

Look at what the Easter Bunny loved them!

I love Kate's surprised and excited expression about the Easter Bunny gifts!

Kate was so sweet with Carly after getting their baskets off of the table. Kate didn't even look at her own basket, she just wanted to help Carly go through her basket first.

After church on Sunday, we headed to Grapevine for a big Easter lunch with the Tate family. We managed to take some pictures before it started pouring. Here we are with the three little girls. All three of the girls turned two within a couple of months of each other. Kamara and Ryleigh-birthday in February, Me and Carly-birthday in March, Keari and Ellee-birthday in January.

Our best shot at a family photo

Aubrey and Kate always make each other smile!

Uncle Chad and Aunt Sheri worked hard feeling tons of eggs for all of the 13 cousins. Unfortunately, it poured all Easter! All of you in the metroplex know what I am talking about. Luckily, we have a big room called the Den in the Tate household that was fitting for an indoor Easter Egg Hunt. We did two hunts. One hunt for all kids under five, and one hunt for kids over five. All of the Dads did a good job placing the eggs throughout the room for the kids to have fun finding them. Then, my parents had numbers put in eggs for an extra treasure. They made sure that each child got a special treasure.  Plus, the Easter bunny left a basket full of candy for each family. Needless to say, all of the cousins had a great Easter even with the rain.

I love my two girls!

Our best effort for a Tate cousin and grandparent picture.

I remembered a day late about the Resurrection Eggs that Aunt Lauren had given us a year ago. The girls loved it! They asked to do it for the next couple of nights, too. Thanks Aunt Lauren, they were a hit!

We let the girls take turns opening an egg. As you can see we did this after bath time and before bed time.

On April 10, Kate had her birthday celebration at school. Since Kate has a summer birthday, the teachers let us designate a day where we could celebrate it at school.

The birthday crown was a little big on Kate's head, so on the way home I would look back at Kate and it would be covering her eyes. It cracked me up!