Since it was so hot today (90s), I filled up Mary Catherine's little swimming pool and let her have some fun in the backyard. We jumped on the trampoline, splashed in the pool, and made mud pies. We even got some "real" candles out and stuck them in the pies so that we could sing Happy Birthday to Auntie M, Lucy (our dog) and me. We had a lot of fun and played for almost 3 hours. Hannah finally joined us at the end but by then the battery on my camera had already died so I didn't get any pics of her.

I know I am a little behind on blog postings but I will just pick up where I left off. Hannah was baptized on February 15. As you already know, we had a "full house" that weekend and things were crazy around here. We all went to Mass Sunday morning at 11:30 and the baptism was right after Mass. Of all Sundays, the nursery was closed. So we parents spent most of Mass in the foyer chasing around the little ones.
Hannah was pretty fussy during the baptism; however, she actually stopped fussing when they poured the cold water on her head. After the baptism, we all headed to our house for lunch. Thank you to all of our family members that traveled far to help celebrate Hannah's baptism.

Last weekend Hannah got baptized and we had a "full house." My brother (Joey) and his two daughters (Molly & Avery) flew in from Arkansas. My sister (Mary) and her fiance (Paul) were here as well as my parents. (Side note: Paul proposed to Mary over the weekend.) Andy's parents and sister (Mary Margaret) also came Saturday evening.

To keep the girls entertained, Saturday morning we went to Zilker Park to ride the train. Strangely enough, a cold front came in that morning and it was freezing but it didn't stop us from going. We rode the train, played on the playground, and fed the pigeons; then we headed to Hut's Hamburgers for lunch (a yummy place downtown). Here are some pics that we took at Zilker.

We were lucky this year to have Grammy in Austin on her birthday (February 10th). In the morning, we went to the library and saw a puppet show. Mary Catherine and Grammy were "party poopers" and came home and took a two hour nap together. We celebrated her birthday that night at Chick-fil-a (Mary Catherine's pick) and then surprised Grammy with a cookie cake.

Hannah gets really upset sometimes when she's tired. It can be a challenge sometimes to figure out how to help her fall asleep so that she'll stop crying.

Here's one of her favorite positions. I think she likes it because she feels close to you, she can't go anywhere, and her head has a nice little pillow on your arm. If you're ever babysitting her and nothing seems to be working, give this a try:

Shuma (Andy's mom) brought Mary Catherine Valentine's Day sprinkles when she came down. So we made sugar cookies. Mary Catherine loved the icing, but then threw a fit when I had to cut her off from the cookies. Lesson: Either set limits ahead of time or don't make cookies.

Mary Catherine is very proud to be a big sister. She always wants to introduce people to her little sister. We were worried that Mary Catherine would get jealous of the attention and not be nice to her baby sister because of it. Turns out that she is very sweet to Hannah and always kisses and hugs her. Today at church, she saw the deacon that she's made friends with. She shook his hand, said hello, and then immediately turned that attention to Hannah saying "This is my little sister Hannah". I think these two will be very close.

Mother's favorite moments - Babies sleeping at the SAME time! They don't really do this very much. Sweet dreams!

In September, Mary Catherine will start preschool at St. Margaret Mary's. Last week, we toured the school. Mary Catherine insisted on wearing her rosary around her neck (as shown in the pic) rather than carrying it in her purse. I have been trying to teach her that a rosary is not for dress up but rather for prayers.
I have been so hesitant to start her in a program, thinking that she is not ready, she's too attached to mommy, but boy was I wrong. Mary Catherine walked right into the first classroom and made herself comfortable. She sat down at a table where all the boys and girls were eating their snack and starting pulling everything out of her purse (sprinkles and a banana) to show to the children. Yes, sprinkles that you decorate cakes/cookies with. Her "shuma" (Andy's mom) gave her sprinkles for Valentine's so that she could make cookies and she insists on taking them everywhere. We then toured the rest of the school. Mary Catherine even joined the 3 year olds for Spanish class. During Spanish, she sat in the back and dumped out her purse again and showed her things to a little girl rather than paying attention. She never looked back to see if I were still in the classroom. I hope this is a sign that she is ready to be away from mommy.
I am so excited that Mary Catherine felt so comfortable and I can't wait for her to start. She'll be going 2 days a week, and she'll have Music, Art, and Spanish class.