Happy Easter

We enjoyed our Easter holiday this year at home with neighbors and friends. We usually go to Austin or have family come here for Easter, but this year we decided to stay here. Philip kept busy with kitchen work/updates. The job ended up being bigger than we anticipated with tearing out drywall under our previous backsplash and putting in new insulation and dry wall. So unfortunately we didn't get as much family time as I would have liked, but we made a lot of progress on the kitchen!

We had an Easter egg hunt/cook out with our neighbors Saturday. I know I say it all the time, but we are so fortunate to have the neighbors we do. Many of them have become good friends and we will definatley be sad when the time comes and we've all outgrown our homes and need to move. We joke that we need to find a neighborhood with lots of homes for sale and all buy there.

Sunday morning we attended church and went to lunch with friends after. When we got home Philip finished up in the kitchen and I entertained the kiddos... and took some pictures. :) I couldn't get enough of my little man in his sweater vest. A-dor-a-ble!

While trying to explain Easter to Avery, I tried being careful with my words and just explain that on Easter we're happy because Jesus loves us so much, he forgives us for our sins so we can go be in Heaven with him someday. We talked a little more about it, more just me leaving it open for questions. She asked me where Jesus was and I told her he lives in Heaven and in our hearts if we want him to. She pondered on that for a while and later came back saying, "Mommy, I don't want to go be with Jesus, I want to stay home." I could tell she was concerned, so I left it at that and told her it was o.k she was going to always be with mommy and daddy. Later that night we were reading a veggie tales book called, "Where's God when I'm scared?" After I read the title I asked her, where is God Avery? She said, "he's in my chest." :)

Drew's 1!

My baby boy turned 1 on Friday! So very bittersweet. My sister and her family came into town Friday and met us at the Ft. Worth zoo. Drew loved running around (or running away from me). His favorite part was the play area.

We then headed home for dinner and birthday cake. Drew ate every last bite of his cake and then ran around like a mad man.

Then we opened presents...

What a fun weekend the kids had with their cousins.

We love our sweet boy and can't believe he's already 1!!

Spring Break Part 2, Lakehouse then TAOS!

After celebrating Papa's long lived life with our family, we headed out to the lakehouse (nannie and papa's) with my parents and Betsy's family. We had a great time, and know that Nannie and Papa would be happy to know that thier lakehouse is being enjoyed so much by their great grandbabies. I have so many childhood memories there with my family and hope that Avery and Drew enjoy it as much as I did.

We stayed there for the day before heading out to Lubbock then Taos. We got to Taos Sunday evening and met Nikki and her kids, Hudson and Emma. (Hudson- almost 5, Emma- 2 1/2) Matt flew in Tuesday evening. Matt and Nikki live in Austin. Philip and Matt have known eachother since they were little, and Nikki and I were best friends in middle school and then reconnected in college. They were our college roomies for a few years. Now that we live in different towns and have kids it has become harder to see eachother for more than a few hours at a time. We really enjoyed our time with them and loved the time with their sweet kiddos.

This trip was the perfect mix of relaxing and playing. We played in the snow, went sledding, went into town to shop and let kids play, went skiing (put kids in the daycare), layed around in the cabin, drank wine, had fabulous meals cooked by chef Nikki... it was a great vacation. And the roadtrip actually wasn't too bad! Atleast the way there... Avery got carsick on the way home a few times. Splitting up the trip in Lubbock made all the difference.

driving in...view from the cabin (Matt's parents)Sledding! Avery and Hudson had a blast... we also had sleds but they enjoyed these trashbags the best.snow angels!
Drew's sled!
The four of us :)
They had a fun toy store in town with a play place that the kids enjoyed.

Family picture... should of taken at the beginning of our trip, as you can see Ave's not too happy.

First part of Spring Break

We left for Austin the week before Spring break to attend my grandfather's visitation and burial service. We will miss him dearly, however we know he is at peace now in heaven and so happy to be reunited with Nannie. My cousin Katie, who is so good with words wrote this about him in her blog,

"Papa outlived many of his family members and friends. He had an amazing outlook on life and was at ease with the cycle of life. He knew that he still had to do what he had to do until his time came. He didn't let it slow him down from playing golf or taking care of his Molly (his dog). Everyone who met Papa immediately loved him. He had a charismatic charm and laid back personality that was hard not to like. As soon as my grandmother passed away about a year and a half ago, other women at their church offered to drive him. He soon won over his nurses at the Hospice care he was in for the past few months as well. Even though he let his charms flow, he was a true Southern gentleman that any grand-daughter could truly look up to."

I think this describes my papa perfectly. I am so thankful to have had such amazing grandparents. Love you Nannie and Papa!

Friends

Last night we went over to our friends, the Carthey's, to see friends and meet baby Cooper. We have been getting together with this group since before we all had babies. We would try to get together every other month or so, but after we started having babies and the Carthey's moved to Ft. Worth, it became a little more challenging to get us all together on the same weekend. We now seem to get together with everyone more like every 6 months or so. The girls enjoy our moms night outs in between our family get togethers. We are thankful for these friendships.
It has been so fun getting to watch our babies grow up into toddlers and welcoming new babies. When we started getting together around 5 or 6 years ago for dinners it was us, Carthey's (Matt and Amanda) and the Collins (Mark and Ashley). We were so happy to add the Tiptons to our group a little over a year ago. Last night the other Collins (Katherine and Dean and their twin baby girls) were able to join us too. So fun getting to see everyone. I will admit that as nice as it is to get us all together it can get a little chaotic with all the kids, especially right around bedtime. When we use to get home closer to 1 a.m, we now are home by 9.
We attempted to get a group picture with mommy's and our kids... but that just didn't happen. Seemed there was always one child hurt and crying, feeding, or too busy playing. We also realized we are almost outnumbered by our children. 10 adults, 8 kids... gettin' there. I am including some past pictures too. :)


Ashley, Amanda, Katherine, me, and Britney
Campbell- 2 1/2 (Ashley's), Claire- 2 (Amandas daughter, furthest from camera), Carter-2 (Britney's son next to Avery)Campbell and Avery


And now some old pics...
Ashley and Campbell, me and Avery, Amanda and Claire --right after Claire was born 2 years ago

Ashley with Claire (around 2 months) I didn't get a picture of baby Cooper last night (Claires now baby brother)... but he looks just like this :) Avery and Campbell- ages? Avery- 2, Campbell-1
Avery and Campbell-- ages? Campbell 6 or 7 months, Avery 18 months
Carter- age 1? -- Britney's little boyAshley and Drew (around 2 months)

growing up too fast...

Can Avery really be 3 1/2?? The 4 year old parties have started, which means Avery's is right around the corner. I am glad she has a September birthday because that means I get her another year at home with me. :) She is such our sweet, sensitive, emotional, funny little girl. She lights up our lives.

Some recent things I wanted to remember/blog about...

While putting her down for nap the other day, ave said "say our father" so I start praying the Lords Prayer (philip taught her), leaving out a line or 2 on an accident and picking up towards the end. She corrects me and then tells me, "You're so silly mommy."-- assuming that I had intended to mess up the prayer. I played along with it, not admitting I had just forgotton that line at that moment.

Avery has this amazing memory. She knew all of her shapes at 18 months because we had these foam ones in the bath, and would just tell her what they were/play games with them. A few days later she knew circle, square, triangle... A week or two later knew oval and rectangle. She would memorize her books around age 2... Not just easy, repetitive books, but books like "bears picnic"-- she would read them almost word for word, expression and all.

A few months ago Philip started saying the Lords prayer w/her before bed and mentioned he was teaching it to her. I thought, there's no way! Literally a week later she could say it with help. A few weeks later could say it on her own- that's a LONG prayer with BIG words!! She now enjoys saying it for us and other family members, like her grandparents. I am constantly amazed at the things she remembers and memorizes. She surely didn't get that from me!! Philip?

This year at preschool has been a year of growth and maturity for her. She's so much more independent now. She has even let other moms walk her into school (which she use to barely let philip take her to school at the Beginning of the school year). She has learned so much. She is showing such an interest now in letters and writing letters, and some sounds the letters make. Her favorite letters to make are: A, H, and O. Not interested in trying to write her name just yet. She comes home singing about the days of the week, months of the year, counting syllables in words (!!- I was amazed at this one... we worked on this w/kindergarten and first graders), talking about what she's learned that day.

She spends most of her time at home doing art work, either painting, drawing, writing, making cards. The other part is usually spent dressing up, playing hide and seek and pretend playing. (Usually princesses or tinkerbell). She still enjoys doing puzzels, but getting a little bored w/the ones we have. She has a fairy memory game we like to play together and she amazes me with how well she remembers where the match is... Sometimes I don't!

Here is a picture she made the other day. She told me they were learning about bugs and butterflies at school. This is "Olivia the Caterpillar." She said it's made out of O's. Love the eyelashes!

She truely has been a blessing in my life these past 3 1/2 years. We like to tell eachother "you're the light of my life" and she truely is... Atleast one of them :)

Few pics...

She is super excited to go to Taos ("the mountains") for Spring Break and has been running around in her gear the last few days asking if it's time to go yet.

Don't even ask... We walked into the room to find her completely naked inside the top shelf. Had to grab the camera. Crazy girl... but we love you Ave!!

Few sayings-- Called me "baby doll" and told me the other day, "mommy, you're so cute."

tired of being sick!

So our month of February consisted of 3 rounds of antibiotics for Drew. He had ear infections in both ears each time. He would clear up for a day or two and then catch another cold. I have been obsessive about staying home and washing hands in order to get him healthy. After not taking him anywhere (germy) for almost a month, he would still catch a cold which would lead to ear infections. So, after finishing our last round of antibiotics last week, (and staying home not helping anyway) I figured we could venture out with our playgroup Friday to a local church's playplace. Well Drew has now come down with another cold. He skipped the runny clear nose and went straight to green snot. UGH! When is this going to end!! He just started sleeping through the night again... I have a feeling that will soon end, and we will be heading back to the doctors office. The fluid in his ears could remain for up to a few weeks after his cold which makes him prone to infection. :( Poor guy! Hopefully with Spring around the corner we will clear out and not have to get tubes.

We took this picture when Drew was at his worse. I know it's gross (he even had fluid coming out of his eyes... sorry to make you gag), but this shows why we stayed home to avoid looking/feeling like this again...

Poor little guy!!!

On another note... Drew is 11 months! I cannot believe he will be one on the 26th!! Of course as a second baby we have no big plans for a party for him. We're driving to Taos with some friends the week of the 15th, so won't be up for a drive to Austin to celebrate with our family. However, Betsy and her family are thinking they may come here to help us celebrate.

We love our sweet baby boy! This year has truely flown by, and I have been so thankful to have been here for every minute of it. Thank you Philip for working so hard so I can stay home with our babies!!