Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Fun with Cousins!

Cousins...Friends for life


My brother and his family came to visit the weekend after Thanksgiving. They were our first official visitors since we moved out here and we really enjoyed their visit. They have 2 boys. Their oldest is 5 months younger than K2 and their youngest is 3 months older than K3. It is great having the kids so close in age...they really enjoy being together! We miss you guys and can't wait to see you at Christmas! I'll leave you with a slideshow of the kids together...


Monday, December 15, 2008

Some funny pics to end your Monday...

Saturday morning, I came downstairs to see quite a sight! The girls are really sweet about being extra quiet on Saturday mornings and letting me and Bryan stay in the bed a little longer. We had breakfast with Santa that morning, so we didn't stay in bed too long, but they still woke up before we were ready to crawl out of bed. They thought they'd be extra quiet by going out back to play. Also, they saw ice on our patio table and thought it would be fun to play with ice (ice, snow...same thing...at least to my kids). Needless to say, it was pretty chilly outside. My sweet little K1 bundled K3 up and thought she and K2 were dressed appropriately, too. That line between dependence and independence is a pretty funny line! Here's what I came down to that morning...notice the shoes...


Another quick funny...
The other night K1 was wanting me to give her some hard words to spell. She is really good at spelling. I decided to ask her to spell mischievous. She said, "Well, that depends...is she married or not, because I know that rule." I got hysterical over that one, because she was dead serious.

Then, K2 joined in the fun and said, "I know how to spell boy". Then, she proudly began to spell it..."HE"!

They keep me in stitches!!! Thanks be to God for all the laughter that children bring into our lives! I can't imagine my life any other way!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Happy 8th Birthday, K1...We love you!

It is so hard to believe that our baby turned 8 today. Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday we were announcing to our parents that we were expecting their first grandchild. Eight years later, we're sitting here with not one, but 3 precious little girls. We have been so blessed! K1 is now officially entering the tween years (8-12) and we couldn't be more proud of the little lady she is becoming. She has such a sweet and gentle spirit and is a great big sister. Both her little sisters think she is just IT! (Her mommy and daddy are pretty crazy about her, too) I thought it would be fun to post a favorite picture from each year to see how much she has changed and grown. Enjoy!

Birth...

1 year...


2 years...


3 years...


4 years...


5 years...


6 years...


7 years...


8 years...


Happy 8th Birthday, sweet girl! We are so proud of you and thank God for the wonderful gift He has given us in you! We love you most!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Santa Claus is Coming to Town...


Here is the picture of the girls with Santa Claus! They did great! It's the first year with no tears and we were so proud! Enjoy!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Decorating the Christmas Tree!

Every year we decorate the tree the Friday night after Thanksgiving. We order pizza for dinner and then spend the evening decorating the tree and inside of the house. The girls get so excited and we all have a blast. We play Christmas CD's while we hang the ornaments and the girls dance around the living room in between hanging ornaments. I'm not sure who has more fun...them or us watching them. They are sentimental already when it comes to hanging the ornaments and they have their favorite ones to hang. It has become one of our favorite times of the season! I have lots of great video footage of them dancing around the ottoman to the tune of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. Maybe someday I'll put some of that footage on the blog if we can get it small enough. For now I've just put together a slide show of some of my favorite photos from the night. Hope you enjoy them!


We went with some friends and took the girls to see Santa at the mall tonight. Once I get it scanned in, I'll post it on the blog. It's the first time that all 3 girls sat on his lap without mom or dad in the picture and no one cried or anything. Quite an accomplishment for us! They all even talked to him and told him what they wanted...even sweet little K3 sat on his lap and in her soft little voice told him she wanted a baby. Too cute! Afterward, she was sooo proud of herself and so were we!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Thank Heaven for Little Girls...

This was the first holiday since we moved back and I was a little nervous about how it would go. We definitely missed being with our families, but we enjoyed a great dinner with some of our closest friends here, the Newtons' and Russells'. These are friends that we made the first time we lived here and have continued the relationship over the years. They've helped us feel as if we never left. When we left, their babies were still babies and now they're not so little. The girls are both a little older than K1, but have really helped the girls with adjusting to the move. All our girls just adore both of them and it has been so fun having them back in our lives. After dinner on Thanksgiving day, the girls cooked up a sleepover...how could I resist...look at those faces! They all had a great time and we enjoyed having them over! Sorry for taking so long to get this post up, JN! Hope you enjoy the pics!

All reaching in the popcorn bowl...


They can eat some popcorn...


What's a sleepover without silly faces...


The girls minus K3, she was comfy on the couch, sucking her thumb...


Note: As mentioned above...K3 comfy and sucking her thumb...


Thursday, November 20, 2008

K3's Room Makeover...

Bryan painted K3's room a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I'd show you how it turned out. She was so excited and kept asking him when he was going to paint it. While it was being painted, she enjoyed sleeping in our room. She was very proud of her new room, once it was all finished. As usual, I think Bryan did a GREAT job! It looks even cuter in person...the colors are so pretty together!




Bryan, K3 and I went to lunch the other day and took a peek in the Dollar Tree that was next door to the restaurant. K3 picked out this little pillow to hang on her door. Bryan and I thought it was very appropriate for our house and wholeheartedly agree with its sentiments!


I had to post this next picture, as well. This morning when I was making my bed, K3 said she wanted to go make her bed (it's not something I make her do yet). After she was finished, she was anxious for me to check it out. I thought she did very well, especially considering she's never really made it by herself before. She was one proud kiddo after I "high-fived" her all over the place! We get very excited about the little things around here! :)


Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The Kindergarten Napper!

Learning can be exhausting...especially for our little K2. I've been taking a series of pictures of her since the beginning of the school year. These have been taken either during homework or shortly thereafter. The last two are from today.








Doesn't she look like a little angel when she sleeps? I'm not sure whose idea it was to make kindergarten full day instead of half a day, but I think it is a bit much for their first year of school. Granted, we did put K2 in a little early, but I can remember K1 being just as exhausted. While I'm posting pics of K2 sleeping, I had to post this next one, too. It was taken before we moved of her and her pal, Uncle Josh, catching a little nap.


These two have a special relationship and are two peas in a pod! They have fun no matter what they're doing and love to make others laugh! Love them both!

On a side note, we woke up to a whopping 24 degrees this morning! 'Tis the season to be FREEZING! This Texas girl can't handle the cold too well! :)

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Fun at the Park with the Hibbards

Last Saturday, we went to a local park with our friends, the Hibbards. It was a beautiful day! The park, just like every other park we've been to in the area, was like a postcard. Lots of big trees and fallen leaves. K3 and BH (their youngest who is 3 months older than our youngest) had a good time trying to catch the falling leaves...for a time, it was literally snowing leaves. We had the privilege of watching "Elsie Belle" unexpectedly take about 5-6 steps without her walker. Here is a glimpse into the great time we had:




Sunday, November 9, 2008

Our 1st Fall as a Family of 3...

I was just remembering our first fall here as a family of 3 and came across some of these old pictures. The quality is not the greatest thanks to our old camera...thank God for technological advances!
These are some of my all time favorites...

K1 and her daddy sitting on the front porch watching the leaves fall...


K1 in a massive pile of leaves that we raked from our beautiful backyard...the funny thing is, she mentioned the other day that she has always wanted to make a big pile of leaves and jump into them. I need to show her these pictures. She obviously has no recollection of this day!


Where's Waldo...I mean K1!


My, how the time has flown! I can't believe it's been 7 years since we took these. She is now enjoying a sleepover upstairs with one of her friends! They grow up way too fast!!! Hope you're all having a great fall weekend!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

The best 13 years of my life and a few trick-or-treaters...

Happy Anniversary, Bryan! Lucky number 13! I looked for a recent picture of us and this is all I could come up with. Apparently, we have no recent pictures without kiddos. Thank you for 13 wonderful years. God has blessed us beyond measure! You are the most sensitive, patient and loving husband/father ever! You have made married life such a breeze and the girls could not have a better daddy! I could not say enough great things about Bryan, but then again, those of you reading this already know that! I love you, Bryan! Thanks for being the man that you are and for being my very best friend!!!


OK, enough of the mushy stuff! On to our trick-or-treaters...

Our little Tinkerbell...



Our little Cinderella...


Cinderella recovering after she ran her legs off...


Our little Rock Star (from Camp Rock)...



The girls out trick-or-treating...



We went trick-or-treating with some friends from church and we all had a lot of fun and got way too much candy!!!

Gotta go...I'm going on a hot date tonight with a really cute guy!!